The National Mediation Board has summoned NJ Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers to Washington D.C. on May 12 to help thaw negotiations before a potential strike later this month.
The board, which is charged with mediating labor disputes in the railroad industry, called the gathering a “public interest meeting” to provide a status update on the negotiations.
The meeting will take place four days before a possible strike May 16, which would halt commuter rail operations in New Jersey for the foreseeable future.
The two parties have grown further apart since the locomotive engineers overwhelmingly rejected a tentative agreement reached in March, which averted the first possible strike date.
Story continues below photo gallery
Absent a contract, which expired Dec. 31, 2019, Congress could intervene in different forms, like forcing a deal or preventing a work stoppage.
“I welcome the National Mediation Board’s invitation to resume mediation,” said Kris Kolluri, president and CEO of NJ Transit.
“I have always said we should avoid a strike and not disrupt the lives of 350,000 riders,” he said.
If a strike comes to pass, NJ Transit plans to spend $4 million a day to provide supplementary bus service and beef up its current routes, but that service alone will only help about 20% of rail riders.
Freight and Metro-North riders would also be affected by a strike
Freight railroads and Metro-North riders who use west-of-Hudson service through NJ Transit territory will also be impacted if the engineers and NJ Transit management can’t come to a tentative agreement before May 16.
The Main-Bergen line has nine stations over the New York border and the Pascack Valley Lines has three. The service is provided through unique arrangements between NJ Transit and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Metro-North commuter railroad.
The MTA will cross-honor tickets from stations in Rockland and Orange counties on its Harlem and Hudson Metro-North lines and the Haverstraw-Ossining and Newburgh-Beacon ferries with free parking in Haverstraw and Newburgh.
There are also a variety of bus options, including:
Hudson Link buses that connect Suffern, Spring Valley and the Palisades Mall with Metro-North stations in Tarrytown and White Plains
Leprechaun Lines shuttle service between Beacon and Newburgh
Coach USA service between Port Jervis and Manhattan
Monsey Trails and Monroe bus lines provide service to Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens
Norfolk Southern and Conrail are two Class I freight railroads that travel on rails that involve NJ Transit. For example, at a point west of Suffern Station on the Port Jervis section of the Main-Bergen line, Metro-North leases the rail line from Norfolk Southern and NJ Transit dispatches the line.
Without NJ Transit to dispatch the line because of a strike, service in that area will likely be disrupted.
This is a breaking news story that will be updated.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Feds call NJ Transit, engineers to talks to avoid strike