Three of the five Long Island Rail Road unions have voted to authorize a strike if contract negotiations fail. A potential walkout would start next Thursday and impact 270,000 daily riders.

The LIRR president is urging the union to return to negotiations with concerns growing about the impact a strike would have on the upcoming Ryder Cup, which begins Sept. 26.

"Our plan is to provide service for the Ryder Cup"

Years in the making, a quarter million golf fans are expected to attend the Ryder Cup at Bethpage State Park, and nearly half those fans will be taking the LIRR to get there.

So what happens if LIRR workers walk off the job?

"Our plan is to provide service for the Ryder Cup. That's what our plan is. We want to continue to do so. We're adding trains. We're adding stops," LIRR President Rob Free said.

Free is urging the unions to come back and talk.

"We will meet with them anytime they're ready to sit down and truly negotiate a contract, a fair and reasonable contract," he said.

A union spokesman said in a statement, "The Ryder Cup won't be affected if you settle the contract. We are only asking for the status quo along with a rate of inflation."

"A railroad strike could really be devastating"

Local businesses, like Croxley's, worry about their own bottom line. The ale house rebranded as Croxley's Ryder Cup Clubhouse for the event, and co-owners Joe Rodriguez and Joe Mendolia say they've been banking on the expected boom for years.

"We're definitely concerned. If that goes down and people can't travel, it's going to affect not only our business, but the entire block," Rodriguez said.

"We have extra staff coming from other locations ready to work, so it's been super important to us," Mendolia said.

If the trains don't run, fans still shouldn't plan to drive. Parking is already tight.

"We have a hard time here with just people coming into the village on a normal day or a normal weekend where, you know, we have the crowds and people complain about traffic and parking," Chiddy's Cheesesteaks owner Daron Benbenisti said. "Add 50,000 more [drivers] just for fun, it's definitely going to create chaos."

He hopes both sides can serve up a deal with 11 days left.

"A railroad strike could really be devastating," Benbenisti said.

In addition to rail service, shuttle buses from Jones Beach and ride-shares are part of the PGA's plan to get fans to the venue.

Business owners hope behind the scenes, the LIRR is working on ways to boost capacity so the Ryder Cup can focus on golf, not gridlock.

Why LIRR workers could go on strike

Roughly 3,700 rail workers could walk off the job as early as Sept. 18 if a deal is not made between their unions and the MTA.

The unions are asking for a 16% wage increase over the next three years, but the MTA's offer hasn't moved past 9.5%.

"We have an offer on the table that's fair and reasonable. We want to compensate them. You know, they have to make a decision. They have to think about that," Free said.

The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen union said in a statement the current proposal from the MTA would result in its workers actually losing money due to the cost of living.

The MTA earlier this week argued that the LIRR already has the highest paid railroad workers in the nation.

One of the largest unions, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, say they will release their voting results on Monday.

LIRR riders preparing for possible strike

Some commuters are already on edge and making alternate travel plans just in case.

"I'm not gonna be able to come to work because I come by train," one person said.

"I'm gonna have to take my car in. I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of traffic," another person said.

A daily LIRR rider named Ellen worried she could end up paying hundreds of dollars for gas, tolls and parking in the event of a strike.

Others sympathized with the workers.

"With the cost of living, the price of goods and services and everything else, they may need to strike," one LIRR customer said.

"I do know those people work very hard, so I do hope everybody gets what they need and everybody could just move on," rider Mark Muszynski said.

The last time the LIRR went on strike was back in 1994. The strike lasted just two days before the MTA conceded to the union's demands.