New Jersey Transit engineers strike, impacting 350,000 passengers
Source: USA Today
May 16, 2025, 3:19 a.m. ET
WOODLAND PARK, NJ — New Jersey Transit engineers have walked off the job, halting the agency's train service throughout the Garden State at 12:01 a.m. on May 16 after agency officials left contract talks, only the second engineers' strike in the agency's 42-year railroad history.
New Jersey Transit bus service will remain in operation throughout the state, and the agency has plans to enhance bus capacity during the strike. Mark Wallace, the national president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, confirmed the decision to strike. He said New Jersey Transit officials walked out of negotiations at 10 p.m. on May 15. "This rests at the feet of NJ Transit," said General Chairman Tom Haas, who represents the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
The New Jersey Transit website noted early on May 16 that "due to a strike by locomotive engineers represented by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), all NJ Transit rail service is currently suspended." The outcome follows a more than five-year standoff between New Jersey Transit and the locomotive engineers over renewing a contract that expired on Dec. 31, 2019.
The two sides have been at odds over wages, with the engineers saying they should make a salary similar to what engineers make at Amtrak, the Long Island Rail Road, and Metro-North. They have said New Jersey Transit could otherwise risk engineers going to other railroads, which has already happened this year.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/05/16/new-jersey-transit-engineers-strike-officials/83665314007/
I know this is a mess. Big news here in Philly as a number of Philly/PA residents who commute to NYC or AC daily (and yes they exist and not all use Amtrak), as well as Jersey commuters who work in Philly and use it to get here, and obviously there is a concern with the overloading of the buses.
= new reply since forum marked as read
was that their added "special bus service" was NOT going into effect UNTIL MONDAY! That was apparently in fine print on their webpage and that has left some pissed off commuters at some of the stations. They mentioned a few decided to go on and take an Uber into the city (at least for today). I expect if this goes on longer, there may be more van/carpooling going on (and they can split the congestion pricing among the riders). Amtrak will probably pick up a bunch (plus we have people here in Philly who would use a local SEPTA line that goes into Trenton and would then transfer over to a NJ Transit train but they may end up on Amtrak).
