The workers are striking because of a pay dispute: BLET argues NJ Transit’s wage proposal puts them below their peers at other passenger rail lines in the region, while NJ Transit argues the union’s demands are unreasonably high and would raise prices for commuters.

Engineers at New Jersey Transit are poised to go on strike one minute after midnight Friday morning, a stoppage that would create huge problems for100,000 daily train commuters, businesses across the New York metropolitan area as well as fans of Shakira and Beyoncé,

New Jerseycommuter rail engineers walked off the job on Friday after marathon contract talks deadlocked, idling a train system that serves some 350,000 passengers a day, including tens of thousands bound for New York City.