One killed as New Jersey commuter train crashes
More than 100 hurt as vehicle ploughs through barrier
HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY // At least one person was killed and more than 100 were injured yesterday when a commuter train ploughed into a railway station during the morning rush hour.
Witnesses reported seeing a woman trapped under concrete and many people bleeding among the tangle of broken concrete, twisted metal and dangling cables that resulted from the train crashing through a barrier at the end of the track.
“We have injuries, critical injuries,” said New Jersey Transit spokeswoman Jennifer Nelson.
The train left Spring Valley, New York, at 7.23am and crashed at 8.45am. Passenger Nancy Bido said the train did not slow down as it pulled into the Hoboken station.
“It was going really fast and the terminal was basically the brake for the train,” she said.
The train came to a halt between the waiting area and the platform, collapsing a section of roof.
“We were ploughing through the platform,” said fellow passenger Bhagyesh Shah.
“It was for a couple seconds, but it felt like an eternity.”
Hoboken is NJ Transit’s fifth busiest station, with 15,000 boardings each weekday. Mr Shah said the train was crowded, particularly the first two cars, because they made for an easy exit into the Hoboken station.
Passengers in the second car broke the emergency windows to get out. “I saw a woman pinned under concrete,” Mr Shah said.
“A lot of people were bleeding; one guy was crying.”
The cause of the crash was not immediately known. More than 30 people were injured at the same station in 2011, after a train crashed into bumpers at the end of another set of tracks.
Rail services were suspended in and out of Hoboken yesterday and the national transportation safety board sent in a team of investigators.