Negotiators reach a deal to end strike on North America’s busiest commuter rail system

NEW YORK (AP) — Negotiators on Monday reached a deal to end the strike that stalled service on the Long Island Rail Road, the busiest commuter rail system in North America.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement on X that the deal “delivers raises for workers while protecting riders and taxpayers” and that service would start back up beginning Tuesday at noon.

Gerard Bringmann, chair of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council, a rider advocacy group, said he’d reserve judgement until he sees more details about the deal and how it might impact future fare hikes.

“This will be a relief to our daily riders who experienced a very difficult day today getting to work and home,” he said.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority and leaders of the five labor unions had been bargaining for a new contract for years before the unions went on strike at 12:01 a.m. Saturday. Roughly 250,000 commuters use the rail system that connects New York City to its eastern suburbs every weekday.

Locomotive engineers, machinists, signalmen and other workers picketed at train stations through the weekend.

The MTA, which runs the railroad, offered free but limited shuttle buses during the morning and evening rush hours starting Monday, leaving most commuters to navigate the gauntlet of car, bus and subway routes. Hochul had urged LIRR riders to work from home, if possible.

Union officials and the MTA negotiated Sunday afternoon into the early morning hours Monday after prodding from the National Mediation Board, which is the federal agency that governs labor relations for railroads and airlines.

The five unions, representing about half the train system’s workforce, had demanded raises they said were needed to help workers keep up with inflation and rising living costs. The MTA argued that the unions’ initial demands would lead to fare increases.

The two sides have been negotiating a new contract since 2023, but talks have stalled over salaries and healthcare premiums.

The Trump administration got involved in September after the unions asked for the appointment of a panel of experts. The move temporarily averted a strike, but the two sides still couldn’t reach a deal after months passed.

The LIRR serves hundreds of thousands of commuters who live along a 118-mile-long (190-kilometer-long) land mass that includes Brooklyn and Queens in New York City and the Hamptons, a summertime playground for the rich and famous near its eastern tip.

Most of its riders live outside New York City in two Long Island counties populated by nearly 3 million people.

Before this latest walkout, LIRR workers last went on strike in 1994.

Quiet Monday morning rush hour

Ridership has been lighter than expected on the free but limited shuttle buses the MTA provided from a handful of locations on Long Island to New York City subway stations.

During the morning commute, more than 2,000 people took advantage of the shuttle service, the agency said. It had prepared for about 13,000 riders.

The first impacts of the walkout were felt over the weekend as baseball fans had to find other ways to get to Citi Field in Queens to see the New York Mets take on their crosstown rivals the New York Yankees.