NJ Transit and an engineers’ union appear to be heading toward a major rail strike that would start Friday — the first one in decades. Currently, both sides are in Washington, D.C. participating in mediation,

The union representing NJ Transit engineers members have authorized a strike for Friday at 12:01 a.m. if no agreement has been reached.

NJ Transit said that 350,000 commuters would be affected by a strike. If the strike occurs, a contingency plan would move rail commuters to its buses. However, only about 20%, or 20,000, of its daily rail commuters could be accommodated by the plan, according to Kolluri.