The U.S. Surface Transportation Board has approved Fortress Investment Group’s $1.05 billion purchase of Wheeling & Lake Erie, the 982-mile regional railroad that operates through Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. 

The STB approved the acquisition application on November 26, and it will take effect on December 26. Wheeling will become part of Fortress’s Transtar operation, which runs seven different short lines across the country, including Union Railroad Company, which interchanges with W&LE. The transaction also includes the Akron Barberton Cluster Railway, which operates on 84 miles of track around Akron, Ohio. 

The Wheeling & Lake Erie was established in 1990 after acquiring former Norfolk Southern routes, some of which belonged to the original W&LE that operated from 1877 until it was leased to the Nickel Plate Road in 1949. The railroad maintains a fleet of EMD locomotives in a Denver & Rio Grande Western-inspired livery. 

In a press release announcing the approval, the STB stated that the regulator received no comments opposing the merger. The one customer served by both Union and Wheeling submitted a comment supporting the consolidation. 

—Justin Franz