One dead and dozens injured after US train crash
At least one person has been killed and dozens more are injured after a train crashed into a station in New Jersey.
More than 100 people were hurt, including 74 who were taken to hospital, when the crowded commuter train smashed into the Hoboken station during morning rush hour.
People pulled concrete off bleeding victims and passengers kicked out windows to escape after the train ground to a halt in a covered waiting area.
The crash collapsed a section of the station’s roof and scattered debris across the platform.
“It just never stopped. It was going really fast and the terminal was basically the brake for the train,” Nancy Bido, a passenger on the train, told WNBC-TV in New York.
Another passenger, Bhagyesh Shah, said: “It was for a couple seconds, but it felt like an eternity.”
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Governor Chris Christie confirmed one person had died after early reports in the US said three people had been killed.
“We need to pray for the one fatality we did have so far and for the other victims,” he said in an interview on CNN.
First responders treat injured passengers after the train crash
Witnesses reported seeing passengers bleeding and at least one woman trapped under concrete.
Ross Bauer, an IT specialist who was heading to work in Manhattan, was sitting in the third or fourth car when the train pulled into the station.
“All of a sudden, there was an abrupt stop and a big jolt that threw people out of their seats,” he said. “The lights went out, and we heard a loud crashing noise – like an explosion – that turned out to be the roof of the terminal.
“I heard panicked screams, and everyone was stunned.”
US Railroads are under government orders to install positive train control, a safety system designed to prevent accidents by automatically slowing or stopping trains if they are travelling too fast.
However, the deadline has been repeatedly extended and none of New Jersey Transit’s trains or tracks is fully equipped with the system yet.
The train had left Spring Valley, New York, at 7.23am and crashed into Hoboken Terminal at 8.45am, according to New Jersey Transit.
Images of the scene posted on Twitter showed what appeared to be debris from the roof and supporting pillars strewn across the platform, with a train carriage twisted sideways.
Another image showed wreckage, cables and pipes dangling from the building’s ceiling, which appeared to have collapsed.
One tweeter posted a picture of a man clutching his head with blood down his arm and T-shirt.
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William Blaine, an engineer for a freight train company, was inside the station when the train crashed.
He ran to check on the driver and said he found him slumped over the controls. Details of his condition have not been released.
Hoboken lies on the west bank of the Hudson River across from New York City.
Its station, one of the busiest in the metropolitan area, is used by many commuters travelling into Manhattan from New Jersey and further afield.
Rail services in the area were suspended due to the accident.
The scene of the crash in Hoboken. Pic: Eugene Suchkov
Numerous emergency crews remain at the scene, which has been sealed off.
NJ Transit spokeswoman Jennifer Nelson said she did not know how fast the train was travelling at the time of the crash.
Bob Chipkevich, who formerly headed the National Transportation Safety Board’s train crash investigations section, says the agency will be looking at whether the train was exceeding speed limits, both when it was approaching the station and when it entered the area.
More than 100 people were injured in the crash
Last month, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) said New Jersey Transit had a lot of work yet to do on installing the necessary safety technology to slow speeding trains.
In response, New Jersey Transit said the FRA report did not reflect the work accomplished.
A crash at the same station on a different train line injured more than 30 people in 2011.
One dead and dozens injured after US train crash
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