NJ Transit rail engineers are set to strike if a deal cannot be reached by the midnight deadline, impacting hundreds of thousands of commuters.

Union members cited five years without wage increases and said the new contract aims to bring NJ Transit wages closer to regional norms, which average around $113,000 a year for NJ Transit engineers, with union demands aiming as high as $170,000 a year.

This is a very sensitive time. Nobody wants to upend a deal,” said Bill Dwyer, a professor in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations.

New Jersey Transit officials and the union representing its rail engineers are set to meet again Sunday to resume contract negotiations, an effort to reach an agreement and end a strike that’s halted train service for three days.

Hotel bookings jumped 10%, highways became parking lots, and subway cars overflowed when New Jersey experienced its first statewide rail strike.