New Jersey Transit train engineers went on strike Friday, forcing an estimated 350,000 New Jersey and New York City commuters to find alternate transportation or stay home.
The strike follows a breakdown in negotiations Thursday, marking the first transit strike in the state in over 40 years. A month earlier, union members had overwhelmingly rejected a proposed labor agreement with management.
“We presented them the last proposal; they rejected it and walked away with two hours left on the clock,” said Tom Haas, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri called the situation a “pause in the conversations.”
“I’m ready to resume talks at any moment,” Kolluri said during a Thursday night press conference with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. “If they want to meet tonight, I’ll be there. Tomorrow morning? I’m in. This is a solvable problem. The real question is: do they want to solve it?”
Murphy emphasized the need to “reach a final deal that is both fair to employees and at the same time affordable to New Jersey’s commuters and taxpayers.”
The union said 15 hours of nonstop contract talks preceded the announcement, with picket lines scheduled to begin at 4 a.m. Friday.
As the nation’s third-largest transit system, NJ Transit runs buses and trains across the state, handling nearly a million weekday trips, including commutes into New York City. The walkout has halted all NJ Transit commuter train service, which connects Penn Station in Manhattan to northern New Jersey suburbs and Newark airport—already facing unrelated delays.
While NJ Transit unveiled contingency plans earlier this week, they warned the extra bus service would offer only “very limited” capacity near train stations and wouldn’t begin until Monday. The agency plans to contract private carriers to run weekday peak-hour buses from park-and-ride locations, but even then, only about 20% of current rail passengers could be accommodated. Commuters able to work from home were urged to do so.
The looming strike had already caused disruptions. Uncertainty over service led NJ Transit to cancel train and bus options for Thursday and Friday’s Shakira concerts at MetLife Stadium.
Negotiators met Monday with a federal mediation board in Washington, and a mediator participated in Thursday’s talks. Kolluri said the board recommended reconvening Sunday morning.
The main sticking point remains wages. The union wants pay parity with other passenger railroads in the region, proposing average annual salaries of $170,000, up from what it says is the current $113,000. NJ Transit disputes that, saying engineers earn about $135,000 on average, with top earners exceeding $200,000.
Kolluri and Murphy said Thursday that the issue isn’t just about agreeing to a wage hike—it’s about doing so without setting off a wave of similar demands from other unions, which could strain the agency’s finances.
Though Congress has the authority to halt the strike and impose a contract, lawmakers haven’t shown interest in stepping in, unlike in 2022 when they intervened to avert a nationwide freight rail strike.
Meanwhile, NJ Transit continues to lose engineers to better-paying railroads. The workforce has dropped from 500 to about 450 over recent months.
