[a2tech]

At least in the United States, this is incorrect. Long haul trucking is expensive compared to shipping things via the rails. The reason things end up being shipped via truck is that its faster, plain and simple. Shipping via rail car is slow and has no guaranteed arrival date. Or should I say, dependable arrival date. And from a logistics stand point you have to engage a last mile trucker at the rail head nearest your true destination to haul your item to the destination. Since you're unlikely to be shipping an entire container/rail car, you'll need to pay extra since the delivery driver will have to drive to your destination then 'dead head' (i.e. return without a load) to the rail yard.

[QuarterReptile]

You're arguing past parent. He stated not that trucking is cheaper, but that it is heavily subsidized. In almost all cases, rail would cheaper, and some things will take advantage of that. Likewise, in all situations trucking will be more expensive,yet there are use cases where the reliability and speed are justified (just like couriers are sometimes justified.) The difference made by the subsidies is all in shifting the margin.

Things that would be toss-ups or wins for rail are instead pushed to trucking. This would just be wasteful, and not so pernicious, were it not for the serious negative impacts on the layout of our towns that result from favoring trucks so heavily.

[WalterBright]

These are just organizational problems that could be worked out if the financial incentives were there, instead of tilted heavily in favor of trucking.

[ryandrake]

Why aren't warehouses located at or near rail stations?

[dredmorbius]

Because trucking is, or at least was, cheap.

Prior to the rise of the Interstate Highway system, most warehouses were on rail lines, or spurs. You'll still find the trackage, or at least the traces of them, in many urban areas throughout the U.S.

In San Francisco, the region near Potrero Hill by the old Fashion Design Centre. The odd street patterns and building perimeters show the former track rights of way.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/San+Francisco+Design+Cente...