NJ Transit riders are facing massive service disruptions as the system barrels like a runaway train toward Thursday’s midnight deadline to avoid its first major rail strike in over 40 years. The Garden State-owned rail service has already festooned stations with screaming-red signage warning of deep service cuts starting at midnight Friday if contract negotiations with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers union fall through.

NJ Transit rail engineers are set to strike if a deal cannot be reached by the midnight deadline, impacting hundreds of thousands of commuters.

Unless a last-minute deal is reached, a work stoppage by locomotive engineers would affect more than 300,000 commuters.