One dead after train crashes into busy US station
A COMMUTER train ploughed into a station in New Jersey at the height of Thursday’s morning rush hour, killing a woman on the platform and injuring more than 100 people as part of the roof came down.
Witnesses described terrifying scenes as the front of the train smashed through the track stop at high speed and into the Hoboken terminal, toppling support columns and creating chaos at one of the busiest transit hubs in the New York city area.
“We have no indication that this is anything other than a tragic accident but ... we’re going to let the lawenforcement professionals pursue the facts,” New Jersey governor Chris Christie said at a news conference.
Train 1614 originated in the town of Spring Valley in New York state and was at the end of its hour-long journey when it crashed.
The injured train driver was taken to hospital but later released, officials said.
US National Transportation Safety Board vicechairman Bella Dinh-Zarr said investigators would retrieve the event recorder, which tracks speed, braking and other data, from the rear of the train on Thursday night.
“Our investigation will continue here on scene for seven to 10 days.”
Christie told CNN 114 people were injured.
Cuomo said it was obvious the train came into the station too fast, but it was unclear why. The cause could be human error or technical failure, he said.
A few hundred emergency workers spent the morning shuttling in and out of the station, some carrying the injured on stretchers to ambulances outside.
The Hoboken crash was the latest in a string of fatal train crashes in the United States. — Reuters