[simonh]

>With such a rail option you'll have an alternative: by default use container vessel then in case of a problem switch to the rail.

That wouldn't make the rail system a sustainable business because it would only make money when there are problems with sea freight. To be sustainable it needs regular bookings. That's likely to be high value goods where timely and reliable delivery are important.

Also bear in mind these goods are shipped directly to cities anywhere in Europe. For some goods Madrid might be a better hub than any sea port and it's is nowhere near the sea, so sea freight would still need to be transferred to rail or road to get there. That's not such an issue for London, but it's a factor for many of these routes.

[alkonaut]

I suspect that a large part of european goods is dropped in Rotterdam, regardless of its final destination, simply because on a 20000 container ship you have many destinations. All those containers will continue on road or rail to their destination. A train to London and a train to Madrid doesn't have that detour.

[bkor]

There's a crazy amount of containers going from China to Europe. IMO just 200 containers on one train far from not enough. Shipping by sea is NOT reliable and there are an insane amount of containers being delivered every week.

I don't get your point about goods are shipped directly to cities? The train goes to Rotterdam and various other locations. Rotterdam has a huge infrastructure (train/truck/barge) already for delivering containers to the final destination. That would just be reused.