Reason for crash yet to be ascertained.
One person died and 108 others were injured, when a NJ Transit passenger train carrying more than 250 people crashed into Hoboken Terminal building in New Jersey, at high speed, on Thursday morning.
The incident happened around 8.45 am when train no. 1614, traveling from Spring Valley to Hoboken on the Pascack Valley line crashed into the terminal building of one of the major transit hubs for Manhattan.
The injured have been admitted to several hospitals in the city. According to Jersey City Medical Center, the deceased was a woman at the railway station, who was standing on a platform when the train came barreling at her, and debris from the station from the impact fell on her. The hospital is treating more than 50 people and three among them are in critical condition.
At least 16 injured were taken to Hoboken University Medical Center, and at least one to Christ Hospital in Jersey City. The train’s engineer has also suffered injuries and admitted to the hospital, reported ABC News.
Most of the injured are passengers who were riding in the first car of the train. While many of them were struck by debris, the commuters in other cars managed to get out of the train.
Michael Larson, an agency employee, who witnessed the crash told The New York Times that the first car was destroyed.
“The first car was pretty well destroyed. The whole roof was caved in. The seats were broken,” Larson said.
Some commuters who were not injured as they were in the last cars said the train did not slow down when it approached the station.
“We had just left Secaucus and that’s where about half or, if not, more than half of the train gets off the car to transfer to New York. We were approaching Hoboken and the train did not seem to be slowing down whatsoever and then all of a sudden everything just crashed and shook,” Corey Futterman, a passenger told ABC News.
William Blaine, an employee of a freight railway and who happened to be in the terminal when the train crashed, said the train may have been traveling 30 to 40 miles per hour when it hit the terminal.
New Jersey Transit said that “Rail service is suspended in & out of HOB due to a train accident at Hoboken station” and “NJT bus & private carriers are honoring NJT rail tickets and passes.”
The Federal Railroad Administration has started an investigation into the crash and the National Transportation Safety Board is gathering information about the incident.
Though the cause of the crash is not known immediately, NBC New York reported that operator error may have been the reason for the crash. However, the agencies are also looking at the possibilities of mechanical problems and sabotage.