[AnimalMuppet]

True, trains are narrower and shorter. They can go longer, but what they really can do is be more frequent. A well-run double-track railroad can move 70 or 80 trains a day with not much difficulty. But you can't put 70 or 80 container ships through a port in a day.

[rtkwe]

You have to compare the destination railyard instead of the tracks. The tracks are equivalent to the sea and the port is equivalent to the railyard. They can distribute closer to the destination though but the tracks are more of a throughput limit point to point than the sea is.

[AnimalMuppet]

Even so, it's easier to expand a railyard (or build a new one) than it is to expand a port.

[rtkwe]

True generally but it depends a lot on where you're trying to put the new rail yard. They'd need to be bigger to accommodate similar TEU numbers which means along the coasts you're going to have a lot more trouble finding the land to build the sprawling rail yards it'd require to move similar amounts of containers.