Saturday, October 3, 2026
The Long Island Rail Road shut down service early Saturday after five railroad unions went on strike following the expiration of a federally mandated cooling-off period.
The last Long Island Rail Road strike occurred on June 17, 1994, lasting for two days before a contract settlement was reached. Prior to that, the last strike had been an 11-day shutdown in January 1987. A more recent strike was narrowly avoided in July of 2014.
The MTA activated its contingency plan, which includes limited weekday shuttle bus service for essential workers and commuters unable to work remotely.
Shuttle buses are operating during peak commuting hours between six Long Island locations:
Subway connection points can be found in Queens, including the Howard Beach-JFK Airport A train station and the Jamaica-179 Street F train station.
A subway to Penn Station can also be picked up at the Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue station.
"My 10-trip off-peak ticket expires at the end of June and I have five more trips on it," said Long Beach resident Rob Perez. "It'll suck if I spent that money and not get to use it."
The MTA also encouraged commuters to work remotely if possible and warned travelers to expect significant congestion and delays on roads and transit systems throughout the region.
Nassau County riders were urged to consider NICE Bus service as an alternative connection to subway stations in Queens and Far Rockaway. The N33 "Long Beach Loop" bus service will increase service.
Long Beach resident Miles Cary, who commutes to Manhattan at least four days per week, simply said he "has no idea" how he'll get to work.
Russell Chisholm, manager of Long Beach Transportation, anticipates more strain on their fleet of drivers, and will have more on call throughout Saturday, traveling Long Beach, Island Park and Oceanside to see if anyone needs help getting to their destination.
"We will try to work with the community in any way we can," Chisolm said, adding that the service will offer a ride share program with a shared trip rate, rather than charging per-person, to help offset rider expenses. Chisolm explained the goal "isn’t to wring people dry" or capitalize on an already difficult situation.
The strike will affect unions, impact thousands of workers and disrupt travel for nearly 300,000 daily riders.
During a Sunday news conference, Gov. Kathy Hochul said that state officials and the MTA remain prepared to continue negotiations and urged union leaders to return to the bargaining table.
“Let me be clear, I did not want a strike. The MTA did not want a strike,” Hochul said at the MTA's subway operations control center. “No one wins in a strike. Everyone is hurt.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman held a news conference on Monday afternoon, calling for Hochul to aid drivers by suspending NYC's $9 congestion pricing program. Blakeman also addressed his limited role in the negotiations.
Kevin Sexton, vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and spokesperson for the Long Island Rail Road Bargaining Coalition, said the unions were forced to strike after negotiations with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority broke down following two days of round-the-clock talks.
“This was a management-provoked strike, as far as we are concerned,” Sexton said at a news conference before dawn on May 16. “Late in the 11th hour, the railroad decided to throw health care contributions for new employees, which was never discussed in bargaining,” he said.
Michael Sullivan, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen, also criticized the MTA’s handling of negotiations.
“This strike did not have to happen,” Sullivan said. “The men and women represented by this coalition followed every step of the legal process and prevailed before two independent expert boards.”
Union members began picketing at 7 a.m. Saturday, May 16, at key locations, including the Ronkonkoma station and Penn Station.
The Long Beach station was one site where six LIRR employees began picketing in the morning, less than a block away from the crowded farmers market at Kennedy Plaza.
"We’re striking until our union leaders can come to an agreement with the MTA," said Nick Iacono, a Freeport resident and locomotive engineer. "We’ll be here in shifts, every day for 12 hours, until it’s resolved."
The contract dispute centered largely on wage increases and the structure of compensation. A Presidential Emergency Board recommended a 4.5 percent wage increase for a one-year contract extension, while the MTA proposed a 3 percent across-the-board raise supplemented by lump-sum payments.
Union leaders argued the lump sums would not permanently increase workers’ base salaries and continued pushing for higher recurring wage increases.
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said the agency could not agree to a deal that would significantly impact the authority’s finances.
“We were more than willing to meet them halfway on wages,” Lieber said during a Sunday news conference. “We need the unions to respond to our ideas and come up with ideas and work with us.”
Hochul also defended the MTA’s position Sunday, saying the authority could not agree to contracts that would “raise fares as much as 8 percent and risk hiking taxes for Long Islanders.”
According to MTA payroll data from 2024, the average base pay for LIRR employees is over $121,000 per year before overtime — on average, overtime supplies nearly $26,000 additional pay, leading to an average total yearly income of just over $147,000.
