The December 2025 Truck-Rail Freight Transportation Services Index Rose 0.2% from November 2025 and Rose 0.2% from December 2024
BTS 26-12
This release is published on a fixed schedule as required by the Office of Management and Budget, and statistics in this release may be revised when inputs to the statistics are corrected or updated. Data on the program page of this website are the most up-to-date and complete.
The Truck-Rail Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) rose 0.2% in December from November, rising for the second consecutive month, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). From December 2024 to December 2025 the index rose 0.2%. The Truck-Rail Freight TSI measures the amount of freight carried by the freight railroads and for-hire truckers.
Truck-Rail Freight Services Index, December 2022 - December 2025
| Month | Truck-Rail Freight TSI |
|---|---|
| Dec-22 | 137.0 |
| Jan-23 | 138.7 |
| Feb-23 | 138.3 |
| Mar-23 | 135.9 |
| Apr-23 | 135.6 |
| May-23 | 135.3 |
| Jun-23 | 135.7 |
| Jul-23 | 136.6 |
| Aug-23 | 135.1 |
| Sep-23 | 135.8 |
| Oct-23 | 136.3 |
| Nov-23 | 135.6 |
| Dec-23 | 137.9 |
| Jan-24 | 132.8 |
| Feb-24 | 135.9 |
| Mar-24 | 134.6 |
| Apr-24 | 134.2 |
| May-24 | 136.2 |
| Jun-24 | 135.8 |
| Jul-24 | 135.5 |
| Aug-24 | 136.7 |
| Sep-24 | 135.5 |
| Oct-24 | 136.2 |
| Nov-24 | 135.2 |
| Dec-24 | 134.8 |
| Jan-25 | 134.1 |
| Feb-25 | 136.0 |
| Mar-25 | 136.3 |
| Apr-25 | 136.4 |
| May-25 | 135.8 |
| Jun-25 | 135.3 |
| Jul-25 | 136.9 |
| Aug-25 | 137.4 |
| Sep-25 | 136.0 |
| Oct-25 | 134.1 |
| Nov-25 | 134.8 |
| Dec-25 | 135.1 |
Analysis:
The Truck-Rail Freight TSI increased in December due to increases in rail intermodal and trucking while rail carloads volumes decreased.
The table below shows the Truck-Rail Freight TSI and its changes in the context of other important monthly economic indicators and their changes from the previous month. The table shows seasonally adjusted indicators unless noted. Some economic indicators were not available due to the lapse in Federal appropriations.
The Truck-Rail Freight TSI in Comparison to Other Economic Indicators and their Changes from the Previous Month
| Economic Indicator | October | November | December |
| Truck-Rail Freight Transportation Services Index | 134.1 | 134.8 | 135.1 |
| Percent Change | -1.4 | -1.0 | 1.2 |
| Federal Reserve Board (FRB) Industrial Production Index | 101.5 | 102.0 | 102.3 |
| Percent Change | -0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
|
FRB Manufacturing (percent change) |
-0.6 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
|
FRB Mining (percent change) |
-0.7 | 1.7 | -0.7 |
|
FRB Utilities (percent change) |
2.1 | -0.3 | 2.6 |
| Housing Starts (thousands of units) | 1,246.0 | NA | NA |
| Percent Change | -4.6 | NA | NA |
| Personal Income (billions of chained 2017 dollars) | 20,592.0 | 20,612.0 | NA |
| Percent Change | 0.0 | 0.1 | NA |
| Institute for Supply Manufacturing Index (percent) (50+ = expansion) |
48.7 | 48.2 | 47.9 |
|
Percentage Point Change |
-0.4 | -0.5 | -0.3 |
Revisions:
Monthly data has changed from previous releases due to the use of concurrent seasonal analysis, which results in seasonal analysis factors changing with the addition of data each month. BTS revised the November Truck-Rail Freight TSI to 134.8 from 134.9 in last month's release.
BTS scheduled the release of the January 2026 index for March 2, 2026.
See Seasonally-Adjusted Transportation Data for historical data from 2000 to the present and numbers for individual modes.
Looking for tables? BTS moved all tables online to streamline the monthly release.
Brief Explanation of the Index
The Truck-Rail Freight TSI measures the month-to-month changes in the output of services provided by the freight railroads and for-hire trucking companies. The Freight TSI includes these modes as well as air freight, inland waterways transportation and pipeline transportation. The Freight TSI can be found at data.bts.gov.
Both the Truck-Rail Freight TSI and the Freight TSI tell us how the output of transportation services increased or decreased from month to month. These indexes can be examined together with other economic indicators to produce a better understanding of the current and future course of the economy. The movement of the indexes over time can be compared with other economic measures to understand the relationship of changes in transportation output to changes in Gross Domestic Product.
The Truck-Rail Freight TSI consists of:
- For-hire trucking and
- Railroad freight services (including rail based intermodal shipments such as containers on flat cars)
The index does not include private trucking, courier services, or the US Postal Service.
The Truck-Rail Freight TSI includes only domestic "for-hire" rail and truck transportation. For-hire transportation consists of freight transport services provided by a firm to external customers for a fee.
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