A woman has been killed and 114 other people injured after a commuter train crashed into a railway station in the US state of New Jersey
Commuters leave from the Path train at the New Jersey transit rail station after a train accident this morning in Hoboken. Pic/AFP
A woman has been killed and 114 other people injured after a commuter train crashed into a railway station in the US state of New Jersey.
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The train entered the Hoboken station 'at a high rate of speed' and 'crashed through the barriers, bringing it into the interior wall' of the terminal, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said.
Hoboken is across the Hudson River from New York City. Many commuters use the busy station to travel into Manhattan.
Vice Chairman of US National Transportation, speaks during a press conference outside the New Jersey transit rail station in Hoboken. Pic/AFP
Passengers told the media that it was train number 1614 on the Pascack Valley Line, which left Spring Valley, New York at 7.23 a.m. bound for Hoboken and was apparently running late.
Passenger Bhagyesh Shah said that he boarded the train at Secaucus. He said that he normally stood near the window, but stood in the back of the train.
"The next thing I know, we are ploughing through the platform," NBC New York quoted Shah as saying. "It was for a couple of seconds, but it felt like an eternity," he added.
Images of the accident posted on social media showed mangled metal, wires and debris scattered all over the floor, RT news reported.
People receives instruction by NJ transit workers as they make their commute from New York to Hoboken. Pic/AFP
A user from New York City, under the name Inscrutable India, wrote: "Lucky to be alive .. we in the second car of the train that crashed in Hoboken," New York Daily News reported.
Several people who were on the train tweeted they felt 'lucky to be alive'.
A 34-year-old resident of Hoboken, who state medical examiners identified as Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, was standing on the platform when she was hit and killed by debris from the crash, Christie told CNN. She was the sole confirmed fatality. The train's engineer was treated at a local hospital before being released and was cooperating with an investigation into the crash, he said.
Video and photos on social media showed serious damage to the transit choke point just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, with the train tangled in wires and debris from what appeared to be caved-in portions of the roof.
The Hoboken terminal is a major transfer point for New Jersey trains and buses as well as ferries and the PATH commuter train that take passengers to New York.
A total of 114 people were injured, Christie told the station. Of those, 55 were treated by emergency responders, while another 22 were transported to hospitals and 37 were walk-ins.
He said he had been contacted by the White House and was working with federal, state and local authorities to "make sure this investigation is seamless and coordinated." Structural damage and the possible presence of asbestos had prevented investigators from accessing the train cars, Bella Dinh-Zarr, vice chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters.
Investigators would spend seven to 10 days on site, she added, saying they hoped to find the train's event recorder -- which would contain information about speed and braking -- later in the day.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she 'was terribly upset this morning.'
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