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    New Jersey Transit and Engineers’ Union Agree to Deal to End Strike

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    The agency said its trains would start running again on Tuesday morning.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, New Jersey Transit and a union spokesman said.The union that represents the state’s passenger-train drivers, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said it called off the strike at about 6 p.m., and NJ Transit said its trains would begin running a full schedule again on Tuesday morning.Kris Kolluri, the chief executive of NJ Transit, said it would take a day to conduct safety inspections and inspect tracks before service could resume.For Monday, the agency said, it would rely on its original strike contingency plan involving chartered buses running from four satellite locations into New York City or to stations on the PATH commuter train service.“The sound that you probably hear is the sound of our state’s commuters breathing a collective sigh of relief, said Gov. Philip D. Murphy, who announced the agreement at a news conference on Sunday night.“If both employers and employees could please give us one more day of work from home, that would be a huge, huge boost,” Mr. Murphy said. State officials had asked commuters to work from home during the strike if their presence in the workplace was not considered essential.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      New Jersey Can Show How to Take On Public Sector Strikes

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      Democrats have long blanched when public-sector unions threaten to strike and hold the economy for ransom. But with New Jersey Transit train engineers walking off the job on Friday, Gov. Phil Murphy can show the nation how blue states can resist that threat. Don’t panic, just say, “Let them strike,” and demonstrate resilience.With New York’s help, New Jersey can reduce the impact of the strike.New Jersey starts with an advantage: As of 2024, nearly three-quarters of New Jersey Transit’s weekday trips were on buses and light rail, which continue to operate. Most commuters who travel into Manhattan from New Jersey arrive on a bus and New Jersey is adding bus service to mitigate the strike’s impact. A private bus company, Boxcar, is also giving customers more options.Governor Murphy should also push car-pooling, with the help of Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, who could implement a two- or three-passenger minimum for vehicles entering Lower and Midtown Manhattan from New Jersey if traffic grows too heavy. New York’s four-and-a-half-month-old congestion-pricing program is already a good reason for workers to car pool and save money.Governor Hochul should resist calls to suspend the congestion charge during the strike.Transit worker walkouts can have devastating consequences for the area economy. In 1966, the Transport Workers Union’s 12-day strike against subways cost New York more than half a billion dollars ($5 billion in today’s dollars) in lost wages and business.The strike transformed the brand-new administration of Mayor John V. Lindsay from fresh to exhausted.The political terror of transit strikes levies long-term costs. For decades, elected officials have allowed various unions to use the threat of a strike to protect pay and work practices that perennially push up the cost of providing transit.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      NJ Transit Riders to Get a Fare Holiday After Summer of Delays

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      After a spate of breakdowns that caused long delays, an unscheduled “fare holiday” on the statewide transit network will start on Aug. 26.After struggling to provide reliable service to commuters this spring and summer, New Jersey Transit is giving its customers free rides for a week, Gov. Philip D. Murphy announced on Thursday.The unusual “fare holiday” on all modes of the agency’s statewide transit network, which will run from Aug. 26 through Sept. 2, comes less than two months after New Jersey Transit raised all of its fares by 15 percent. The increase received heavy criticism from customers and elected officials.Mr. Murphy and state transportation officials argued that the fare increase was necessary to close a gap of more than $100 million in the agency’s budget. Additional annual increases of 3 percent are scheduled.Mr. Murphy, a Democrat, said in a statement that the fare holiday was a “thank you” to the agency’s loyal customers for enduring a period when “transit service has not consistently met their expectations — or our own.”During an appearance on “Good Day New York” on Fox 5 New York, the governor said, more plainly: “It’s been a really ugly summer. I think June was one of the worst months we’ve had.”Critics immediately took to social media to carp about the choice of the week leading up to Labor Day, a time when many commuters are on vacation.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      New Jersey Transit Service Disrupted for Third Time in Less Than a Week

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      Rush-hour commuters at Penn Station faced a shutdown of close to an hour, followed by extensive delays, after Amtrak investigated a report of a problem with overhead wires.New Jersey Transit service was disrupted once again on Monday evening, with travel suspended in and out of Pennsylvania Station for nearly an hour because of a report of a problem with Amtrak overhead wires in one of the Hudson River tunnels.Service was suspended at 6:37 p.m. and resumed shortly before 7:30 p.m., but trains were still subject to delays of up to 60 minutes, a New Jersey Transit spokesman said.It was at least the fifth disruption for New Jersey commuters in the last two months, and the third in less than a week. Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains share the portion of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor between New York City and Trenton, N.J., so issues with Amtrak tracks or wires immediately affect New Jersey Transit service.Trains were held in place for about 25 minutes, or in some cases pulled back to Penn Station, according to a New Jersey Transit customer service representative.An Amtrak spokesman said service had been suspended as a precautionary measure after a report of trouble with the overhead wires that provide the electricity that powers trains moving in and out of Penn Station. The inspection turned up no problems, he said, so service resumed after about half an hour.During the shutdown, trains were diverted to Hoboken, N.J., and New Jersey Transit rail tickets were accepted for rides by private bus companies and PATH trains in Newark, Hoboken, N.J., and Midtown Manhattan.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      NJ Transit Disrupted for Many by Disabled Train at Penn Station

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      New Jersey Transit service into and out of the Midtown Manhattan transit hub was suspended and commuters were rerouted to buses and the PATH train. Amtrak reported 90-minute delays.New Jersey Transit service into and out of New York’s Pennsylvania Station was suspended Tuesday morning for about an hour and all Amtrak trains passing through the station were delayed because of overhead wire issues and a disabled commuter train on the tracks, train officials said.Service for New Jersey Transit was restored shortly after 9 a.m., but riders heading to and from Penn Station were still experiencing lengthy delays. Officials had diverted trains bound for Manhattan to Hoboken, N.J., and directed travelers to take the PATH train or buses instead. The station in Hoboken quickly became overcrowded, according to pictures posted on social media, as commuters tried to make their way to work.The disruption ruined the morning commute for thousands of New Jersey residents as the delays rippled out along the various rail lines in the state. Some riders reported being stranded at stations, waiting more than 45 minutes for their trains to arrive.The problems on Tuesday came on the heels of major rush-hour delays at Penn Station earlier this month, caused by an inspection of tracks owned by Amtrak. Service was significantly delayed for more than an hour.Service was also disrupted in May when an overhead wire used for traffic signals fell and struck a cable in Kearny, N.J., that provides electrical power to trains on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor. Trains were halted on Amtrak and New Jersey Transit in both directions between Penn Station and Newark, and delays stretched to more than four hours.On Tuesday, frustrated commuters used social media to complain about the delays, ask for updates and request refunds.“Without a doubt, delays are frustrating for everyone involved, including us,” Amtrak Northeast wrote in response to one post. “Regarding compensation, your full trip must be completed before we can take this into consideration.” More

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      Rush-Hour Delays Again Hit New Jersey Transit Commuters

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      A track inspection held up travelers for more than an hour, two weeks after a suspension of service stopped all Amtrak trains into New York’s Penn Station.Another round of delays at New York’s Pennsylvania Station on Wednesday night gave commuters flashbacks to the meltdown two weeks ago, when fallen electrical wires in New Jersey forced Amtrak to suspend train service on the entire Northeast Corridor between New York and Washington for most of the night.Wait times this time around were not as severe. Trains leaving Penn Station for New Jersey faced 45-minute delays starting at 5:16 p.m. because of an inspection of tracks owned by Amtrak in Secaucus, N.J., according to an Amtrak spokesman.Large crowds gathered inside the station after 6 p.m., as at least 10 New Jersey Transit trains were unable to depart on time. Only one Amtrak train was delayed by 33 minutes, said Jason Abrams, an Amtrak spokesman. The track inspection was complete by 6:25 p.m., Mr. Abrams said, and service began to return to normal.The delays are an “ongoing issue,” said Antonio Shaw, 33, who arrived at Penn Station at 5:45 p.m. for a train to Rahway, N.J. “It’s frustrating as a commuter,” he said.The Northeast Corridor is the busiest section of passenger rail track in the United States. The section between Newark, N.J., and New York includes some of the nation’s oldest train infrastructure, including rail yards in Kearny, N.J., and a pair of tunnels under the Hudson River, which were built to service the original Pennsylvania Station in New York, which opened in 1910.Parts of the line are failing. In 2014, Amtrak said it would be forced to close at least one of the tunnels by 2034 because of damage caused by age and chemicals left behind by floods from Hurricane Sandy in 2012.At least in part because of that aging infrastructure, commuters who rely the most on train lines using the Northeast Corridor face the most frequent delays. New Jersey Transit lines that don’t use the corridor, including the Main-Bergen and Pascack Valley Lines, arrive at their destinations on time more than 95 percent of the time, according to the agency.The New Jersey Transit line from New York to Trenton, N.J., follows the Northeast Corridor the entire way. It has the agency’s second-worst performance, with 86.6 percent of its trains arriving on time.At Penn Station on Wednesday evening, commuters said they were growing tired of trains running late.“It has been insane the past six weeks,” said Annika McTamaney, 23, a New Jersey resident who canceled a date on Wednesday because of the delays.Aimee Ortiz More

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      Amtrak and NJ Transit Trains Suspended Because of Fallen Wires at Penn Station

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      Fallen electrical wires in New Jersey brought Amtrak and New Jersey Transit service to a halt on the Northeast Corridor, leaving travelers stranded, according to transit agencies.Train service along the Northeast Corridor south of New York City ground to a halt Wednesday evening because of fallen overhead power cables in Kearny, N.J., stranding commuters and travelers on trains and at stations as far south as Washington.The power outage disrupted service between New York and Newark, starting at 5:05 p.m. and the backups cascaded down the corridor that is the main line between New York and Washington. Some trains bound for Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, America’s busiest rail hub, terminated in Philadelphia, where passengers were left to find alternate transportation, said Jason Abrams, a spokesman for Amtrak.At 10:05 p.m., hundreds of people rushed the entryway of track 11 at Penn Station, where a train to Trenton was boarding nearly four-and-a-half hours behind schedule.At about 10:30 p.m., Mr. Abrams said trains were running again south of Penn Station. By 11 p.m., he said, northbound service had also resumed. But it was not clear if service would be fully restored before the Thursday morning rush.Sheydline Moise, 23, was shuffling forward in the crowd. She’d left work to catch a 6:27 p.m. train home toward Woodbridge, N.J., and had been waiting at the station ever since. At one point, she boarded a train for about 20 minutes, only for authorities to tell passengers to disembark, she said.“I almost started to cry,” Ms. Moise said, adding that Uber was quoting a fare of nearly $200. “This has been a super long night,” she said, sounding exasperated. “I’m definitely calling off tomorrow.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More