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Train drivers on the commuter railway between New York and New Jersey have gone on strike after pay talks between their union and public transportation system NJ Transit broke down on Thursday night.
NJ Transit’s 450 engineers and trainees halted work on Friday, with picket lines starting at locations including New York’s Penn Station, one of the city’s main terminals, and the operator’s headquarters in Newark.
The state-owned commuter railway, which has more than 350,000 daily users, provides a vital transportation link between the state of New Jersey and New York City.
The strike is the latest challenge for New York’s transport infrastructure as it faces the need to invest in its ageing subway system and tensions with the Trump administration over a congestion charge for motorists.
“NJ Transit is facing a sobering fiscal reality,” New Jersey governor Phil Murphy said at a press conference on Thursday night. “That is a challenge we must balance with paying our engineers and every NJ transit worker what they deserve.”
Managers at NJ Transit walked out of talks with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (Blet) at 10pm on Thursday after 15 hours of nonstop contract discussions, according to the union. NJ Transit posted on X earlier in the week that train customers should if possible work from home in the event of a rail stoppage.
“NJ Transit has a half-billion dollars for a swanky new headquarters and $53mn for decorating the interior of that unnecessary building,” said Blet’s national president Mark Wallace. “They have money for penthouse views and pet projects, just not for their front-line workers. Enough is enough.”
The union claims that the company’s engineers make at least $10 less per hour than their peers at other rail groups that operate at the same stations as NJ Transit.
The transportation system, in a factsheet posted on its website, says that it “isn’t reasonable to live and work in New Jersey, but demand to be paid like you live and work in New York”.
NJ Transit chief executive Kris Kolluri said the National Mediation Board, a federal agency that oversees labour-management negotiations in the airline and railway industries, had “reached out to us already” and proposed a meeting over the weekend to restart talks.
The union has not yet made any statement on when negotiations may resume.
