U.S. Truck-Rail Freight Transportation Services Index: Steady Growth in December 2025
- Kelsea Ansfield
- Feb 2
- 3 min read
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) released its December 2025 Truck-Rail Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) today, showing modest but positive momentum in the sector. The index, which tracks the volume of freight moved by for-hire trucking and freight railroads (including intermodal shipments), rose 0.2% from November 2025 to 135.1 (seasonally adjusted, base year 2000=100). This marks the second consecutive monthly increase.
On a year-over-year basis, the Truck-Rail Freight TSI also advanced 0.2% compared to December 2024, indicating stable underlying demand despite broader economic headwinds.
This release, issued on a fixed schedule per Office of Management and Budget requirements, may be subject to revisions as additional data becomes available. The most current and complete figures, along with historical series, are accessible on the BTS program page.
Key Drivers Behind the December Increase
According to BTS analysis, the uptick in December stemmed from gains in rail intermodal shipments (such as containers on flat cars) and trucking activity, which more than offset a decline in traditional rail carload volumes. This dynamic highlights the growing importance of intermodal transportation in efficient goods movement across North America.
Intermodal rail-truck combinations continue to offer cost and environmental advantages for long-haul freight, particularly in an era of supply chain optimization and sustainability goals.
Truck-Rail Freight TSI in Broader Economic Context
To provide perspective, here's how the Truck-Rail Freight TSI compares to other key economic indicators for recent months (seasonally adjusted unless noted):
Economic Indicator | October | November | December | % Change (Dec from Nov) |
Truck-Rail Freight TSI | 134.1 | 134.8 | 135.1 | +0.2% |
FRB Industrial Production Index | 101.5 | 102.0 | 102.3 | +0.4% |
FRB Manufacturing (% change) | -0.6% | +0.4% | +0.2% | - |
FRB Mining (% change) | -0.7% | +1.7% | -0.7% | - |
FRB Utilities (% change) | +2.1% | -0.3% | +2.6% | - |
Housing Starts (thousands of units) | 1,246 | NA | NA | - |
Personal Income (billions chained 2017 dollars) | 20,592 | 20,612 | NA | - |
ISM Manufacturing Index (50+ = expansion) | 48.7 | 48.2 | 47.9 | -0.3 pp |
The Truck-Rail Freight TSI's slight gain aligns with modest improvements in industrial production, though manufacturing and ISM readings remain in contraction territory. Some indicators were unavailable due to federal appropriations issues at the time of release.
Note: BTS revised the November 2025 Truck-Rail Freight TSI to 134.8 (from 134.9 in the prior release) due to concurrent seasonal adjustment methodology, which updates factors with each new data point.
What the Truck-Rail Freight TSI Measures
The Truck-Rail Freight TSI focuses specifically on output from:
For-hire trucking companies
Freight railroads, including intermodal services (e.g., containers and trailers on flat cars)
It forms a subset of the broader Freight TSI, which also incorporates air, water, and pipeline modes. Both indexes serve as leading indicators of economic activity, as transportation output closely correlates with overall production, inventory cycles, and GDP trends.
For full historical data back to 2000, visit the BTS Seasonally-Adjusted Transportation Data portal.
Implications for Shippers, Carriers, and Logistics Strategies
This continued stabilization in truck-rail freight activity suggests resilient demand in key sectors like retail, manufacturing inputs, and consumer goods distribution. The strength in intermodal and trucking points to shippers favoring flexible, multimodal solutions amid ongoing efforts to manage costs and reduce emissions.
For businesses:
Intermodal opportunities remain strong for long-haul routes, potentially offering better capacity utilization and pricing stability.
Trucking dominance in shorter-haul and final-mile segments supports just-in-time models but requires monitoring for driver availability and fuel costs.
Rail carload softness may reflect shifts in bulk commodities (e.g., energy, agriculture), warranting diversified sourcing and mode strategies.
At Gain Consulting LLC, we help clients interpret these indicators to optimize transportation portfolios, negotiate carrier contracts, assess nearshoring impacts, and build resilient supply chains. The modest but consistent gains in the Truck-Rail Freight TSI reinforce the value of multimodal planning in today's environment.
The next Truck-Rail Freight TSI release, covering January 2026 data, is scheduled for March 2, 2026.
Explore the full dataset and related tools on the BTS Transportation Services Index page or data.bts.gov.
If these trends affect your operations—or if you're seeking expert analysis on freight capacity, pricing forecasts, or infrastructure strategies—reach out to Gain Consulting LLC. We're here to turn data into competitive advantage.
Follow us on X @gainconsulting_ for timely logistics insights.
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