huge buffers or high cost does not necessarily mean a bad chain...there may be very few trains running to a certain region/the first train must be notoriously famous for running late and may be the only option to link to the second train...secondly,high cost is also not of great concern if it serves your purpose...people pay for tatkal,etc...some prefer rajdhanis and shatabdis as far as possible...but still,the chain owner must defend the cause for his high buffer/cost...