NJ Transit and an engineers’ union appear to be steaming ahead to the first major rail strike in decades starting early Friday, even as both sides convene in Washington, D.C., where they pledged to continue negotiations.

Beyonce fans might be better off riding a horse to next week’s “Cowboy Carter” concerts at MetLife Stadium if a strike shuts down NJ Transit rail service. NJ Transit’s train engineers could walk off the job as soon as Friday after Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers members voted to reject a tentative agreement between the leaders of the agency and the union.

NJ Transit has pre-emptively canceled its bus and rail service to the concert as a strike by the locomotive engineers could take place as soon as 12:01 a.m. on May 16.Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.

With a strike looming as soon as Friday, officials of NJ Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers met with the National Mediation Board on Monday in Washington. No agreement was reached. NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri thanked the board for convening the meeting in a statement,

A NJ Transit employee is facing criminal charges for allegedly stealing hundreds of phones and reselling them, netting more than $700,000.

A 37-year-old NJ Transit executive has been charged after authorities say he stole $700,000 worth of phones from the agency and then sold them for profit.