Largest rail service in North America halted due to workers strike

A strike by thousands of Long Island Rail Road employees brought the nation’s busiest commuter railroad to a standstill early Saturday, disrupting travel across the New York metropolitan area and setting up a major labor standoff between transit officials and union leaders. Train service was halted shortly after midnight when five labor unions representing nearly half of the railroad’s workforce launched a walkout after contract negotiations with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority collapsed. It marks the first rail strike on the system in roughly 30 years. The shutdown immediately affected commuters traveling between New York City and Long Island, with officials...