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.
“Our members at the Wheeling & Lake Erie have the full support of our national union, as well as the Teamsters,” BLET National President Mark Wallace said in a statement. Wallace also serves as president of the Teamsters Rail Conference.
The union posted images of picketing protestors that appeared to be taken at the railroad’s headquarters in Brewster, Ohio.
According to the union, the strike centers on the railroad’s insistence on assigning managers to work as conductors. BLET says the practice revives an issue that led to a strike and federal court proceedings in 2013.
In that earlier dispute, the union said, W&LE sought to replace conductors with managers and, in some instances, operate trains with only one crew member. BLET contends those practices violated its contract and long-established safety practices.
The union maintains that the railroad’s current actions violate a federal court order arising from that confrontation. The underlying court order and details of the current assignments were not included in the supplied statement.
BLET characterizes the railroad’s conduct as a “major dispute” under the Railway Labor Act and argues that it permits the union to take immediate “self-help,” including a strike.
“This employer has not only violated our contract and compromised safety standards; they also have arrogantly thumbed their nose at the federal courts,” Wallace said. “We will protect the members we represent and the communities this railroad serves by shutting down train operations until this railroad’s management abides by court orders and the terms of our agreement.”
Why it matters: The walkout threatens to disrupt an important regional freight link serving steel mills and other industrial customers across a four-state network.
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