This story may be of interest to some on the forum. It concerns the Rolling Highway (RoLa from the German Rollende Landstrasse) between Freiburg-im-Breisgau in southern Baden-Wuerttemburg (along the Rhine) and Novara, Italy (between Milan and Torino) This keeps a lot of heavy trucks off the Swiss Highways, and so it is subsidized by the Swiss Government. The service is operated by RAlpin, which is owned by Hupac, Swiss Federal Railways, and Italian State Railways. The trains load the complete semi-truck including the tractor unit, while the truck driver rides in a slumbercoach type vehicle.
An interesting idea that some of the European rail operators are implementing to help relieve highway congestion, particularly around “choke points” like the Alps crossings…
I’ve seen posts on these forums that suggest it would work in the US but I’ve never read one that made a compelling,economic case for the extra costs needed to move the tractor and driver along with the trailer…