So there are ones besides Eurotunnel.
In the US, containers have won out. The other schemes - roadrailers, Trailer On Flat Car/piggyback, and some other strange approaches - have pretty much become obsolete. Double-stack container trains have maybe 4x the capacity of hauling an entire truck.
One such "strange approach" was the Roadrailer
Eurotunnel's system is very nice, but only works for a short journey: they don't provide space on those trains for passengers to relax, you stay in or near your car. This is perfect for 30 minutes, also makes faster loading/unloading, but can't work for longer journeys. Also because of this "stay near your car" thing, their trains are wider than usual trains in Europe, which makes it impossible for them to go anywhere except on that dedicated tunnel.
I'd love to see a solution that actually works almost like them but for longer trips: there is zero fun driving 1000km by the road when you need to go somewhere. It could be fun if you have time, but otherwise it's boring and tiring, would much prefer driving at the destination than on the journey.
The lorry drivers do have a separate cabin that they travel in. The cars are in completely enclosed double-decker carriages, but the lorries are open to the elements.
Less open to the elements now.[1] The lorries now ride Eurotunnel in cars with a solid roof and steel truss sides. The roof is to prevent projecting objects such as antennas from contacting the overhead power line (that's happened) and the open sides are to allow fire extinguishing (that's happened, more than once.)
Such are the practical problems of a "rolling highway" Eurotunnel has had to solve.
Have they won out or has freight shifted to trucking from rail? Heavy, slow, and double stacked is the most efficient, but shippers look at more than a single factor.
If it came in on a container ship, and has a long way to go, the next step is often rail. This has led to "inland ports", in such places as Tucson, AZ and Columbus, OH, where the containers leave rail and go on trucks. In the US, it's not exactly "last mile" from there, more like last hundred miles.
Union Pacific's container trains are heavy, fast, and double-stacked. Once they get clear of the congested area around LA, they pick up speed.[1]
> container trains are [...] fast
I never imagined for a second that these things were going slow for our benefit (maybe safety, noise etc). I just had in my mind that they were simply incapable (technical reasons such as track or economic reasons like fuel efficiency) of going any faster.
So they could be speeding through the rail crossing instead of crawling at what feels like five miles an hour?
I think I don't understand tge video, but isn't the train here very slow? I thought it would be minimum 100kph to be fast.
Truck is about 30% more than rail, but they both move an awful lot of stuff: https://www.bts.gov/content/us-ton-miles-freight
autonomous trucks may strike back. Especially when they would connect bumper to bumper into "truck trains" (fuel saving and increased bandwidth of a given highway)