A rail-road intermodal freight system. In an embodiment, a conveyor system is provided for placing rail cars in a position for loading shipping containers thereon, while an over-the-road trailer is secured to the rail car. By utilizing the method, efficient loading and unloading of train involved in intermodal shipments may save considerable time, and thus reduce costs.

A sand storage and conveying apparatus is provided. The sand storage and conveying apparatus includes: a sand storage device, at least two first conveying devices and a lifting device. The sand storage device includes at least two sand storage tanks arranged along a first direction; the at least two first conveying devices are arranged along the first direction and configured to convey sand to the at least two sand storage tanks, respectively; the lifting device includes a supporting frame and at least two lifting members connected onto the supporting frame, the at least two lifting members are arranged along the first direction, and each of the at least two lifting members is configured to lift a container with sand and put the container with sand into at least one of the first conveying devices.