NJ Transit rail engineers will officially go on strike Friday​ after the union and the agency failed to reach an agreement.

NJ Transit and a locomotive engineer’s union are still negotiating with less than a day until a strike deadline. At a press conference Wednesday night, NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri and union officials expressed optimism about a deal being made before midnight.

The strike by the locomotive engineers would disrupt the lives of tens of thousands of commuters in the New York metropolitan region.