Two NJ Transit rail unions ask for federal mediators in contract talks Updated 1:25 PM; NJ Transit’s rail unions are back at the negotiating table with the agency to renew contracts that were settled in 2016 after fears of a strike. Two of the agency’s 15 rail unions requested assistance from a federal mediator in talks to reach new contracts after the old ones expired in 2019. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers announced on April 27 they requested a federal mediator under the Railway Labor Act. Talks started on Oct. 1, 2019. The National Mediation Board did not return phone calls from NJ Advance Media to identify the other union that requested mediators.