BTS Rail Data Change: CP and KCS Charts Retired in Favor of CPKC

On Sept. 8, 2026, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that it has convened an interagency working group, led by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), to develop timely information on supply chain activity, according to BTS. The group includes relevant DOT modes along with the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Commerce and Labor, BTS said.

What changed in the rail data

BTS also confirmed a data continuity change tied to the rail sector. In May 2025, Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) began reporting data to reflect the April 14, 2023 merger of Canadian Pacific (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KCS), according to BTS. New CPKC charts were added, with data updated weekly starting May 10, 2025. BTS stated that the separate CP and KCS charts will not be updated going forward.

For anyone tracking BTS rail indicators across time, this means historical comparisons that rely on standalone CP or KCS series will not extend past the changeover date. Analysts working with these series should treat May 2025 as a cutover point rather than mixing pre- and post-merger data without noting the change.

How BTS organizes its freight indicators

BTS organizes its weekly supply chain and freight dataset into four sections, according to its website: port data inside the gate (such as loaded and empty containers and vessels anchored or awaiting berths), port data outside the gate (including rail train speed, terminal dwell, and truck speeds at bottlenecks), freight movement (rail carloads, intermodal units, and the Freight Transportation Services Index), and transportation costs, labor and demand (including job openings, employment, spot rates and diesel prices).

Among the freight movement measures is the Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI). Heavy Duty Trucking reported in 2014 that BTS research comparing the freight TSI to economic growth cycles back to 1979 found the freight measure led turning points in the economy by an average of about four months. That finding is from a 2014 BTS study and reflects data available at that time; it is not a current 2026 measurement.

Context on freight risk signals

Separately, Logistics Management reported in March 2026 that freight industry leaders described a market with more risk and fewer clear signals, as issues such as cargo theft, driver licensing enforcement and freight recession concerns have overlapped rather than dominating the news cycle individually. That reporting does not reference the BTS rail data change and is presented here as separate context on the broader freight information environment.

MarketScale analysis

Companies that maintain internal dashboards referencing BTS rail data should identify any logic that still treats CP and KCS as standalone series and update it to reference CPKC data from the May 2025 changeover forward, marking the transition point clearly in any trend charts that span before and after the merger reporting change.