Are we that convinced that only tractor-trailers work well for overland freight? Even if you insist that big-box retailers represent the peak of retail capital

Are we that convinced that only tractor-trailers work well for overland freight? Even if you insist that big-box retailers represent the peak of retail capitalism, is it so difficult to imagine that these might be placed along a central corridor with rail running along the back, each store able to pluck the intermodals off the flatbed car, and load empties back onto it? Spaced out so that every business could unload at the same time? Everyone's always bitching about cars and how they've made things awful. But how much traffic/carbon/misery would we eliminate if freight were taken off the highways?