Latest news with #commuterrail
Bloomberg
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Bloomberg
NJ Transit Strike Ends After Agency, Engineers Make Deal
After prolonged wage negotiations, New Jersey Transit and train engineers reached an agreement on Sunday evening — but not before triggering a transit strike that paralyzed travel between New Jersey and New York City. Hundreds of engineers walked off the job in the early hours of Friday, shutting down all 12 commuter rail lines and forcing hundreds of thousands of commuters to cram into buses, PATH trains, ferries and other modes of transport. Shakira fans were left fuming as they faced gridlock, surge pricing on rideshares and pickup delays after leaving the popstar's concerts last week. The pact ends the first railroad strike for the transit system in more than 40 years. Service is scheduled to resume on Tuesday, Sri Taylor reports. Today on CityLab:
Bloomberg
18-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
NJ Transit Makes Deal With Engineers, Ending Three-Day Strike
By New Jersey Transit and its locomotive engineers reached an agreement on a new contract, ending a three-day transit strike that disrupted train services for thousands of riders. The pact ends the first railroad strike for the transit system in more than 40 years. The rail workers had walked off early Friday morning, forcing riders to find other modes of travel into New York City or to work remotely. All 12 of NJ Transit's commuter rail lines were shuttered, though the system's buses and light-rail service continued to operate.
New York Times
18-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
New Jersey Transit and Engineers' Union Agree to Deal to End Strike
An agreement was reached on Sunday to end New Jersey's first statewide transit strike in more than 40 years just three days after it started, two people close to the negotiations said. The terms of the deal with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, and the timing of when the work stoppage would end, were not immediately available. An announcement by Gov. Philip D. Murphy was expected Sunday night. The engineers still must ratify the terms of the new contract, which they have failed to do once already. The engineers walked out at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, bringing New Jersey's network of commuter train lines to a halt and leaving thousands of commuters scrambling to find other ways of getting to work. NJ Transit, the nation's third-largest commuter railroad, said it carried about 350,000 passengers a day, including about 70,000 who ride its trains into Manhattan on a typical weekday.
New York Times
17-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
New Jersey Transit Negotiations to Resume Saturday Afternoon
New Jersey Transit and the union that represents its train drivers will meet on Saturday afternoon, a day earlier than planned, to resume negotiations as the state's first transit strike in 40 years enters its second day, Kris Kolluri, the agency's chief executive, said on Saturday. During a news conference at Newark's Pennsylvania Station on Saturday morning, Mr. Kolluri said that he planned to meet with representatives from the striking union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, at 1 p.m. Plans for the meeting came together on Friday night, after the union's national president requested further negotiations. A pre-existing meeting with the National Mediation Board, the federal agency that coordinates labor relations in the railroad and airline industries, is planned for Sunday. 'We're going to meet the union today, we're going to meet them tomorrow, all with this goal of getting to a deal so we can get them back to work, get our customers the reliable service they need,' Mr. Kolluri said at the conference. The meetings this weekend offer a glimmer of hope for a swift end to the strike. The stoppage has hobbled the transit agency, which operates the nation's third-largest commuter rail network, stranding thousands of commuters. The strike officially began at 12:01 a.m. on Friday when the engineers walked out after contract talks stalled between their union and the transit agency. The two sides had been engaged in negotiations for months and, according to Mr. Kolluri, who has been leading the agency's bargaining team, had been 95 percent of the way to a deal, but reached an impasse on the issue of pay. New Jersey Transit's engineers want to be paid on par with those at other commuter railroads in the area — including Amtrak, Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road — but Mr. Kolluri has said that the agency cannot afford those pay increases. On Saturday, he doubled down on this point, adding that while he was eager to resolve the issue and put an end to the strike, the agency would not 'break the bank' to do so. 'We need to make sure we live within our means,' he said. 'The governor and I have said we will not make a decision on a labor contract that will leave the next governor a mess to clean up.' The effects of the strike, the first of its kind in New Jersey in 40 years, were quickly felt on Friday morning, as fleets of passenger trains sat dormant in rail yards and frustrated commuters were forced to use expensive or inconvenient alternatives to get to work on time. The transit agency has a contingency plan for the strike, which includes running supplemental buses to fill the gaps left by the rail lines, but the buses can transport only about one-fifth of the displaced train riders, according to the agency, and that plan does not go into full effect until Monday. On Saturday, Mr. Kolluri offered a rosier review of the strike's first day. Despite some crowding, he said, the agency had been able to supply enough buses to absorb commuters. 'Our focus this entire time has been to make sure, in a calm and collected manner, we implement our contingency plan, which is what we've done,' Mr. Kolluri said. Still, as the negotiations resumed this weekend, Mr. Kolluri prepared customers for the possibility that they would not end the strike, and he asked them to avoid going to work on Monday if they did not have to. 'If you can continue to work from home, it would be a hugely helpful moment for us in order to manage the volume,' he said.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Talks aimed at ending New Jersey Transit rail strike to resume Saturday, railroad CEO says
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Talks aimed at settling a strike between train engineers and New Jersey's huge commuter railroad will pick up on Saturday and continue Sunday, New Jersey Transit CEO Kris Kolluri said. The locomotive engineers' strike began Friday at the rail system with 350,000 daily riders and left commuters either working from home or searching for other ways to travel across the state or over the Hudson River to New York City. Kolluri spoke Saturday at Newark's Broad Street Station, saying the agency is preparing for the workweek commute by 'surging' buses to help commuters at train stations. But he cautioned that the buses can't handle the entire volume of the commuter rail system. Kolluri said he and Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen President Mark Wallace spoke and agreed to meet Saturday. It had been uncertain whether the two sides would meet ahead of a National Mediation Board meeting already set for Sunday. 'We're going to meet the union today. We're going to meet them tomorrow, with this goal of getting to a deal so we can get them back to work, get our customers the reliable service they need,' Kolluri said. A message seeking comment Saturday was left with the union. The walkout comes after the latest round of negotiations on Thursday didn't produce an agreement. It is the state's first transit strike in more than 40 years and comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management. Wallace walked the picket line Friday outside New York City's Penn Station, and said the engineers are committed to staying on strike until they get a fair deal. Union members were nearly unanimous in authorizing a strike last summer, and 87% of them rejected the latest agreement. Wallace said NJ Transit needs to pay engineers a wage that's comparable to Amtrak and Long Island Railroad because engineers are leaving for jobs on those other railroads for better pay, The union has seen steady attrition in its ranks at NJ Transit as more members leave to take better-paying jobs at other railroads. The number of NJ Transit engineers has shrunk from 500 several months ago to about 400. The engineers are responsible for operating trains, ensuring safe and smooth transport between stations, New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday that it is important to 'reach a final deal that is both fair to employees and at the same time affordable to New Jersey's commuters and taxpayers.' NJ Transit is the nation's third-largest transit system and operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. The walkout halts all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other, as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently.
