Yes. That is very important. Currently, when someone takes a plane, they have to arrive an hour in advance, then the trip itself may take an hour or an hour and a half, and it can take a long time to get out of the airport. It is important to compare the full length of a train trip to that of a plane trip. In my opinion, the two are starting to be more comparable than 15 years ago.
On May 12th, 2009. See this statement in context.