Train drivers in New Jersey stopped working on Friday. About 350,000 people who travel to work in New Jersey and New York City had to find other ways to get there, or stay at home.

The workers stopped working because they didn't agree on something at the meeting on Thursday. This is the first time in 40 years that public transport workers in this state have stopped working. It happened one month after most of the workers said no to a deal with the bosses.

"We gave them our final offer, but they said no and left, even though there were still two hours to go," said Tom Haas, who is in charge of the train engineers' group.

The head of NJ Transit, Kris Kolluri, said they are taking a break from talking about it.

He said on Thursday that he really wanted to continue these talks soon. He was speaking at a meeting with the Governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy. He said, "If they want to meet tonight, I will meet them. If they want to meet tomorrow morning, I will meet them again. I think we can find a solution to this problem quickly. The question is, do they want to find a solution?"

Murphy said it was important to "make a final agreement that is fair to workers, and also doesn't cost too much for people who travel and pay taxes in New Jersey."

The union said they talked about the contract for 15 hours before the announcement. People are expected to start protesting at 4 a.m. on Friday.

NJ Transit is a big transport system in the US. It runs buses and trains in New Jersey, with about 1 million trips each weekday, also to New York City. Because of the strike, all NJ Transit trains are stopped. These trains are used a lot by people travelling between New York City and northern New Jersey, and also to Newark airport, which has had some problems lately.

The company said they have plans to add more buses. They want to help people who used to take the train. But, the new buses will only have a few extra seats and will only go near train stations in New York. They will start on Monday. The company will also use other bus companies to drive people from some parking lots during the week when many people are travelling.

But the agency said the buses won't carry as many people as the trains do now. Only about 20% of train users will fit on the buses. So, they asked people who can work from home to do that if there is a strike.

The chance of it happening had already made travel difficult. Because no one knew what would happen, the transport company stopped trains and buses for Shakira's concerts on Thursday and Friday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

The groups met on Monday in Washington with a mediator to talk about the problem. A mediator was also there on Thursday. Kolluri said on Thursday night that the mediator suggested they meet again on Sunday morning to keep talking.

The biggest problem in talks between the company and the train workers' union is pay. The union wants its members to earn the same as workers at other train companies nearby. They say their members earn $113,000 a year on average. The union believes they can agree if the company boss, Kris Kolluri, agrees to pay them $170,000 a year on average.

However, NJ Transit says the union's numbers are wrong. They say that engineers earn $135,000 a year on average, and some earn over $200,000.

Kolluri and Murphy said on Thursday that the problem is not just about agreeing on a pay rise. The problem is if that agreement would make other unions want the same, which would be too expensive for NJ Transit.

Congress can stop the strike and make the union agree to a deal. But this time, they don't want to do that, unlike in 2022 when they stopped a train strike.

The union at NJ Transit has lost members because many are leaving for better jobs at other train companies. The number of engineers at NJ Transit has decreased from 500 to about 450 in the last few months.