New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo helped broker a last-minute deal between the Long Island Rail Road and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Thursday, averting a strike that would have stranded hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.

Talks between the two sides were stifled earlier in the week, and a strike planned for 12:01 a.m. Sunday seemed inevitable. However, Cuomo called both the unions representing 5,400 LIRR workers and the MTA back to the negotiating table Wednesday evening. Hours later, the two sides reached an agreement, and union leaders called off their strike.

Cuomo called the deal, which settled a four-year dispute between unions and the transportation agency, "a compromise by both parties," CBS New York reported.

MTA Chairman Thomas F. Prendergast called the contract, which agrees to give workers 17 percent raises over 6½ years, "fair and reasonable." He added that the terms would "put no additional pressure" on the agency to raise fares to meet union demands, The New York Times reported.

Meanwhile, union leader Anthony Simon asserted that the deal was "definitely about the riders."

One point of contention during the negotiations was over whether LIRR employees would have to contribute to pensions and health insurance. The tentative deal states that employees will have to contribute to their health insurance costs, in exchange for a 17 percent raise. In addition, new hires will have different wage progressions and pension plan contributions.

"There are health care savings that all employees will contribute to, and for new hires, there are wage progression and a pension plan and health care savings," Cuomo said, per CBS New York.

According to the governor, the deal will not affect MTA fares and will instead "be accommodated within revisions to the MTA financial plan," PIX11 reported.

"The agreement reached today provides a fair and reasonable contract," Prendergast said in a statement, "in a way that protects the commuter as well as the long-term fiscal stability of the MTA."