New Jersey Transit locomotive engineers went on strike early Friday morning as negotiations between the transportation company and union workers failed to produce a contract agreement. It is the Garden State’s first transit strike since 1983.

NJ Transit locomotive engineers walked off the job just after midnight Friday, as a work stoppage brought to a halt a rail service used by 350,000 commuters.

NJ Transit engineers announced late Thursday that contract negotiations between the union and the transit agency failed to reach an agreement and that the union was going on strike. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen announced the move shortly after 11 p.