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

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

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.