NJ Transit rail engineers are set to strike if a deal cannot be reached by the midnight deadline.A last-ditch effort is underway to avert the strike, which is expected to impact more than 300,000 commuters as early as Friday morning.

Unless a last-minute deal is reached, a work stoppage by locomotive engineers would affect more than 300,000 commuters.

NJ Transit’s bus routes, the agency’s predominate lines in the region, would not be impacted. But rail lines would.