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NJ Transit chief warns of possible engineers' strike, outlines contingency service and budget risks
Summary
NJ Transit President Chris Kalori told the Assembly Transportation Committee he is negotiating to avert a potential engineers' strike next Thursday, described contingency bus-and-park-and-ride plans to keep people moving, and said higher-than-offered contract demands would force fare or corporate-fee increases.
President Chris Kalori of New Jersey Transit told the state Assembly Transportation Committee on May 5 that the agency is in active bargaining with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and is seeking to avert a work stoppage scheduled for next Thursday. Kalori said he would leave the hearing to return to the bargaining table and that, while he believes in collective bargaining, he must protect the financial stability of the agency and its 350,000 daily riders.
Kalori described the March agreement that he said the agency and the union had publicly announced: a move that would have raised the average engineer salary from about $135,000 to roughly $172,000 and included a $60,000 retroactive payment. He said the union's current demands—he characterized them as seeking salaries near $190,000 or a $555,000 total increase for some members—would be unaffordable and would require difficult tradeoffs.
"If the union gets what it wants—there absolutely will be a fare increase of 17% this July or an increase in corporate transit fees of 27%," Kalori said, urging the committee to weigh long-term fiscal consequences as negotiations proceed. He repeated that his bargaining goal is a settlement the agency can carry through 2031 without bankrupting operations.
Kalori laid out immediate contingency plans should engineers walk off the job: supplemental bus service focused on routes into New York (which he said account for about 72% of train traffic), and four state park-and-ride sites to feed buses at Hamilton, Woodbridge, Secaucus and the Parkway/PMC Arts Center. He said other modes—Amtrak, PATH, ferry services, buses and light rail—would continue operating.
Committee members pressed Kalori on turnout, fleet age and reliability. He reported overall on-time performance figures near 90% for the system, with bus on-time performance about 91% and light rail roughly 94%. He repeatedly linked late performance to aging rolling stock and parts-management constraints, noting that many railcars in the fleet date to the 1970s and that Buy America sourcing has limited suppliers for some parts.
On modernization, Kalori said the agency expects to order roughly 1,000 new buses and the remaining 200 railcars the system needs, and that the administration has committed to modernizing the entire fleet within the administration's horizon. He described a new parts-management initiative with Rutgers intended to improve inventory visibility and reduce lead times.
Kalori also updated lawmakers on major projects, saying he helped secure $11.3 billion in federal commitments for the Hudson Tunnel (Gateway) project and that the Portal Bridge work is nearly 90% complete with a track opening targeted for next November.
Several legislators asked for follow-up detail on station accessibility (Summit, Dunellen), the timeline and budget tradeoffs if the union settlement exceeds the administration's proposal, and the possibility of New Jersey Transit taking over routes abandoned by private bus carriers. Kalori pledged to provide salary and staffing payroll records and to follow up on station repair timelines and procurement details.
The committee did not vote on any measures; Kalori left the hearing to continue negotiations.
Ending: The most immediate development is Kalori's return to the bargaining table to head off a strike he said could begin next Thursday; lawmakers requested multiple follow-up data points on station repairs, fleet procurement and the fiscal effects of different contract outcomes.
