Trailer-on-flatcar

[1] The trailers will be moved by truck from their origin to an intermodal facility, where they will then be loaded onto a train, typically by a rubber tired gantry crane, for the bulk of their journey.

[2] Modern TOFC service was first introduced in North America in the 1950s, although the practice of carrying another mode of transport on flatcars was first recorded in 1843 when canal boats were moved by a portage railway between several cities in Pennsylvania.

Besides the need for facilities to handle loading and unloading with road (preferably highway) access, trailer on flatcar operations impose certain height clearance requirements.

However, height clearance requirements tend to be slightly lower than for rolling highway transportation where entire trucks are loaded onto rail vehicles.

For example, the Betuweroute in the Netherlands an important freight link from the Dutch seaports to the Blue Banana had all bridges and tunnels built to standards allowing double stack rail transport in the future by simply raising the overhead wire.