REGIONAL — A threatened strike by Long Island Rail Road employees would affect nearly 300,000 riders, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said at a press conference Thursday afternoon, where the agency outlined its contingency plans.

Rob Fried, president of LIRR, said the strike could take place as early as Thursday, Sept. 18. While LIRR engineers listed inflation and cost of living as the reason for their wage demands, a strike “is not fair to LIRR riders and the region as a whole,” Fried maintained, adding that the agency hopes “to get the engineers back to the table.”

The nearly 600 locomotive engineers employed by LIRR have been without a pay raise for more than three years, the last on April 16, 2022, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen said on

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