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 are striking because they didn't agree on a deal after talking on Thursday. This is the first time in over 40 years that public transport workers in this state have stopped working. It happened a month after most of the union members said no to a work agreement with the bosses.

"We gave them our final idea, 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 said this at a meeting with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. "If they want to meet tonight, I'll meet them tonight. If they want to meet tomorrow morning, I'll meet them again. I think we can solve this problem quickly. The question is, do they want to find a solution?"

Murphy said it was important to "agree on a final plan that is fair to workers and doesn't cost too much for people who travel to work and pay taxes in New Jersey."

The union said they talked about the contract for 15 hours straight 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 on weekdays, 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 towns in New Jersey, and also to get to Newark airport, which has had some problems recently.

Recently, the agency said they have plans to add more buses. They want to help people who use trains. But, the new buses will only have a few extra spaces on routes near train stations in New York. These buses will start on Monday. The agency will also hire private bus companies to drive from park-and-ride spots during busy times on weekdays.

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

Because of the worry about it, travel was already difficult. The travel company was not sure what would happen, so they stopped the trains and buses for Shakira's concerts on Thursday and Friday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

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

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

However, the people in charge at NJ Transit don't agree with the union's information. They say that the engineers earn about $135,000 each year, and some of the highest-paid engineers earn more than $200,000.

Kolluri and Murphy said on Thursday that the problem is not just agreeing on a pay rise. The real problem is if that pay rise would make other unions want the same, which would cost NJ Transit too much money.

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.