NJ Transit announced it would be suspending service on all rail lines Friday evening amid a planned job action by engineers still negotiating a new contract, multiple sources told NBC New York.
For those looking to get home for the long holiday weekend, the suspensions have furthered the chaos already occurring on the rails, as the protest forced a litany of systemwide cancellations throughout the day, starting with the morning rush hour, leaving commuters stranded on platforms and at train stations.
Still looking to get home by rail Friday evening? Take a look below at what time service out of New York-Penn Station, Newark Penn Station and Hoboken is ending, with much of it ending by 8 p.m.:
- Northeast Corridor: No. 3881 at 7:44 p.m. from NY
- North Jersey Coast Line: No. 3279 at 7:06 p.m. from NY
- Raritan Valley Line: No. 5747 at 7:13 p.m. from Newark Penn Station
- Montclair-Boonton Line to Hackettstown: No. 1085 at 7:22 p.m. from Hoboken
- Gladstone Line: No. 443 at 7:44 p.m. from Hoboken
- M&E to Dover: No. 6667 at 8:05 p.m from NY
- Montclair-Boonton to Montclair: No. 6291 at 7:37 p.m. from NY
- Port Jervis Line: No. 65 at 7:57 p.m. from Hoboken
- Main Line: No. 1127 at 7:46 p.m. from Hoboken
- Bergen County Line: No. 1177 at 8:13 p.m. from Hoboken
- Pascack Valley Line: No. 1641 at 7:28 p.m. from Hoboken
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Trains into Hoboken will also be ending early as a result of the suspension, with much of that service done between 9 p.m.-10 p.m. Here are the last eastbound trains by time:
- Port Jervis Line – from Port Jervis to Hoboken: Train No. 68 at 9:22 p.m.
- Main Line – from Suffern to Hoboken: Train No. 1136 at 9:47 p.m.
- Bergen County Line – from Suffern to Hoboken: Train No. 1186 at 10:17 p.m.
- Pascack Valley Line – Spring Valley to Hoboken: Train No. 1634 at 9:07 p.m.
- Gladstone Line – Gladstone to Hoboken: Train No. 438 at 9:28 p.m.
The first signs of transit chaos showed in the morning commute as dozens of trains were no-shows and riders on a handful of lines were left asking for an explanation.
Service alerts littered NJ Transit social media and website citing "engineer availability" issues leading to the influx of schedule problems. By the end of the morning rush-hour, a couple dozen trains had been canceled.
NJ Transit said the call out rate by engineers on Friday was nearly triple that of an average weekday.
The mangled day for public transit came about due to a planned job action by engineers upset over a dispute in holiday pay, sources said. Juneteenth was recognized as a state holiday on Friday in New Jersey, but the engineers without an updated contract don't receive holiday pay.
News
Rumors of a job action began circulating Thursday when NJ Transit sent a letter to the engineers' union warning workers against missing work on Friday.
Engineers who did not show up to work forced service cancelations on a number of train lines Friday. The Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Line were particularly hard hit during the morning rush and by the afternoon, nearly every line had an alert.
"NJ TRANSIT is disappointed that the union would perpetuate such an act on the more than 100,000 customers who depend on NJ TRANSIT rail service every day. We intend to explore all legal remedies in response to this illegal and irresponsible action," a NJ Transit spokesperson said in a statement to News 4.
Calling the actions of the engineers "illegal," NJ Transit said it would look into all possible legal remedies in response to the job action.
