NJ Transit trains could stop running at 12:01 a.m. Friday if locomotive engineers go on strike over the salary increase they want​.

NJ Transit riders are facing massive service disruptions as the system barrels like a runaway train toward Thursday’s midnight deadline to avoid its first major rail strike in over 40 years. The Garden State-owned rail service has already festooned stations with screaming-red signage warning of deep service cuts starting at midnight Friday if contract negotiations with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers union fall through.

NJ Transit’s bus routes, the agency’s predominate lines in the region, would not be impacted. But rail lines would.

As late as Wednesday night, the two sides were expressing some optimism for a settlement. Since then, radio silence.

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