(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump fired Robert Primus, a board member of the Surface Transportation Board, a U.S. regulatory body which oversees railroads, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Primus told the newspaper that he planned to challenge the termination and that the White House's actions would weaken the board and "adversely affect the freight rail network in a way that may ultimately hurt consumers and the economy."

"This is deeply troubling and legally invalid," Primus wrote in an email to The Wall Street Journal.

The White House and the STB did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

(Reporting by Harshita Meenaktshi in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)