With just hours left before a 12:01 a.m. strike deadline set by the NJ Transit local that represents the Garden State’s hundreds of train engineers, spokesmen for the union and NJ Transit

NJ Transit and a locomotive engineer’s union are still negotiating with less than a day until a strike deadline. At a press conference Wednesday night, NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri and union officials expressed optimism about a deal being made before midnight.

NJ Transit President and CEO Kris Kolluri said the two sides have had “constructive” meetings this week in Newark and in Washington D.C.