NEWARK (1010 WINS) -- NJ Transit has suspended the remainder of its service Friday after an engineering shortage caused by an “illegal job action” by the locomotive engineers’ labor union stopped dozens of trains.
"Due to an illegal job action initiated this morning by the locomotive engineers’ union (BLE&T), rail service will terminate early this evening and will remain temporarily suspended for the remainder of the service day," the agency said Friday evening. Click here to see the alert.
The cancellations began during the morning rush and continued throughout the day, with almost 70 cancellations in total across the transit system by Friday evening. Many were due to "engineer availability."
Crowds continued to gather at Penn Station by 5 p.m. as people got off from work and tried to get away for Father's Day and Juneteenth weekend.
1010 WINS' Julie Walker witnessed the choas as NJ Transit rerouted a train making all local stops to Trenton. She said she saw people rush down to it and it was so crowded that many passengers could not get on.
People were even pushing and shoving to squeeze their way on with many commuters wanting to leave the city.
NJ Transit said the number of engineers who called out Friday was three times the rate of an average weekday number.
The agency released a statement earlier saying it “became aware of a rumor late in the day” Thursday that the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen “could potentially initiate an illegal job action” on Friday.
“With today’s engineer call outs at nearly triple the rate of an average weekday, it is clear that this is the result of an illegal job action,” the statement continued. “NJ Transit is disappointed that the union would perpetrate such an act on the more than 100,000 commuters who depend on NJ Transit rail service every day. We intend to explore all legal remedies in response to this illegal and irresponsible action.”
1010 WINS has reached out to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen for comment.
New Jersey is observing Juneteenth as a state holiday on Friday. BLE&T is the sole holdout of the 15 unions at NJ Transit that hasn't signed a new collective bargaining agreement that would've included Juneteenth as a paid holiday, sources told 1010 WINS. The previous contract the union is currently operating under does not include Juneteenth as a holiday, according to the sources.
As the cancellations continued to mount, NJ Transit said it was “communicating all impacted trains through every available channel, including text messages, e-mail, through push notifications on the mobile app, on social media and departure vision boards.”
Rail tickets and passes were being cross-honored by NJ Transit bus, light rail, private carrier buses and PATH at Newark Penn Station, Hoboken and 33rd Street, the transit agency said.
Click here to check the status of your train.
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