As union workers prepared to strike, Gov. Philip D.

Murphy of New Jersey said the state’s transit system was facing a “sobering fiscal reality” and that he hoped for the best. Dakota Santiago for The New York Times

The first statewide transit strike in New Jersey in more than 40 years began just after midnight Friday when about 450 unionized locomotive engineers walked off their jobs in a dispute over pay.

The walkout by members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen shut down New Jersey Transit’s rail network. The strike will leave tens of thousands of commuters scrambling for other ways to reach their jobs in the New York City metropolitan region.

The union said its members will start picketing at 4 a.m. on Friday. Mark Wallace, the union’s national president, said: “They have money for penthouse views and pet projects, just not for their frontline workers. Enough is enough. We will stay out until our members receive the fair pay that they deserve.”

Kris Kolluri, the chief executive of NJ Transit, said at a news conference late Thursday, that he would return to the bargaining table at any time. “This is not a lost cause,” he said. “This is an eminently achievable deal.” Gov. Philip D. Murphy said the agency’s offer to the union “would have given their members almost exactly what they asked for.” About 70,000 commuters ride the agency’s trains to Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan on a typical weekday. Many thousands more ride trains to stations in Newark and Hoboken, where they transfer to other trains, buses or ferries.

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