new Jersey transit strike is over ending a work stoppage that brought the nation's third largest commuter rail system to a standstill at 12:01 a.m on Friday it was the first train strike here in more than 40 years new Jersey Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Union say they came to a tentative contract agreement late Sunday after three days of intense negotiations between both sides the governor's office and the National Mediation Board salary increases were the main sticking point and how to achieve them without putting the transit agency into a financial disaster during a Sunday night press conference NJT president and CEO Chris Calori called the agreement quote fair and fiscally responsible but the trains won't start rolling until Tuesday according to union leadership giving engineers 24 hours to make safety inspections and bring rail cars back to their stations then regular service is expected to resume while the roughly 450 members of the BL union still need to ratify the contract we continue our team coverage tonight starting with senior correspondent Brenda Flanigan who has the latest on the deal i'm a happy I'm a happy now commuters welcome the news the rail strikes over and NJ Transit train service will be back on track tomorrow after 4 days of frustration finding alternate rides it took me an hour to get to Newark to commute to my job in Manhattan today and that's all I'm going to say oh thank God i got to get from Hamilton up to Newark every day so I need these trains the sound that you probably hear is the sound of our state's commuters breathing a collective sigh of relief governor Murphy and NJ Transit CEO Chris Kurri called the deal a very good outcome hammered out late Sunday afternoon in a meeting with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and a federal mediator they have poured hour after countless hour into reaching an agreement that is both fair to NJ Transit's employees while also being affordable for our state's commuters and taxpayers i think we learned some important lessons uh on what the membership wanted and I think the union this time did a really good job of clarifying if you will their positions engineers are getting back to work we're starting to get trains moving again get everything set up for full service tomorrow union General Chairman Tom Ha says he's exhausted but pleased the unions worked without a contract since 2019 members rejected a tenative deal in April that they complained lag 20% behind New York engineers doing the same job this deal would ultimately put them just 3 to 5% behind comparable railroads Hos says if it's approved i mean it's not over the members still have to vote on it but I'm reasonably certain that they are very satisfied with what we came out of why what is different about this time around about this contract so this time New Jersey Transit really stepped up and and really addressed what we saw as the the main issue which was our wages it's more than the last offer but it's not more expense to New Jersey Transit union sources say the contract gives engineers higher wages in exchange for concessions on work rules and health benefit contributions nj Transit insisted on structuring the deal to also manage demands for equity from the AY's other unions under so-called meto clauses something that we could manage our way through that was singledigit millions or maybe low dud double digit millions of an impact versus nine figure impact for the many small shops that depend on rail riders even four days with no trains took a bite out of their bottom line hearing the strike had ended thrilled staff at Zaro's family bakers woohoo that's about all I can say people coming back more business that's all we need we immediately think about the the riders uh but we forget about everybody along the rail lines and particularly the small businesses business leader Michelle Sukurka says it's those shops that take a hit she notes business community had urged a contract settlement that doesn't require hiking fairs or increasing New Jerseys corporate transit fee now businesses and lawmakers are waiting to see the new contract details we are banking on the fact that we were told that this is a reasonable settlement reasonable meaning that it is fair to the workers that it's fair to the riders and that it's fair to the taxpayers both sides hope the deal at least for now keeps the fiscally challenged commuter railroad on track meanwhile H says both rails and equipment required safety inspections before train service could resume under federal regulations engines parked for the strike were redeployed along their routes and engineers got their shift schedules i'm hoping that we're going to have a normal day of service and all the trains will be on time uh like we always strive for so just the regular NJ Transit yeah just a regular day on New Jersey Transit trains start rolling at midnight tonight the union's rank and file will vote on this offer electronically nj Transit's board is scheduled to vote June 11th in Newark i'm Brenda Flanigan NJ Spotlight News