I happened to see a Suvidha special in Palakkad towards Chennai on 1-Jan. On inquiring with the TTE , came to know that SL tickets were around 800-1000 and 3AC was around Rs 4000-Rs 4500. The train was also running late by an hour and he was almost sure that it would reach Chennai delayed by almost 2 hours or more.
While railway is surely earning a lot in this heavy rush, not sure if it is a worthwhile option for passengers to spend so much on such trains with delays.