Wheeling & Lake Erie engineers, conductors strike over managers filling crew positions
Train engineers and conductors with a Midwest regional railroad walked off the job over what they claim are contract violations by management.
About 140 engineers and conductors at the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway went on strike Wednesday, Nov. 11, over the railroad’s use of managers to perform conductors’ work, according to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
The union said picket lines went up at railroad locations beginning at noon Wednesday but offered no details. It contends that the railroad’s actions violate both its collective bargaining agreement and a federal court order dating to 2013.
The dispute involves a regional freight railroad operating over 840 miles of track, with a network extending from Hagerstown, Maryland, through West Virginia and Pennsylvania, serving Pittsburgh and northeastern Ohio, and reaching Toledo.
FreightWaves has reached out to W&LE management for comment. The railroad is owned by FTAI Infrastructure Inc., (NASDAQ: FIP) which acquired it in 2025 for $1.05 billion.
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