At least three people are believed to have died and at least 100 have been injured after a train crashed ‘at full pace’ into a train station platform today. The commuter train crashed through New Jersey Transit Hoboken station during rush hour.
Most of those who have been injured are in a critical condition according to a New Jersey Transit spokesman. Many passengers were this afternoon still trapped in the wreckage of the carriages.
Hoboken is at the end of the line and is a commuter station with many passengers ending their journey there to get a boat across the Hudson to New York City.
Linda Albelli, 62, who was on the train, said ‘I noticed, “he’s not slowing up, we’re going too fast,” and with that there was this tremendous crash.’
Passengers described the train as going ‘at full force’ into the station, knocking down a large section of the building. Many of the walking wounded were seen covered in blood or sat on benches waiting to be treated by first responders.
The crash happened at New Jersey Transit Hoboken where many passengers were waiting for trains.
Images on social media show a train that appears to have gone through the bumper stop at the end of a track.
‘The next thing I know, we are ploughing through the platform,’ passenger Bhagyesh Shah told NBC New York. ‘It was for a couple seconds, but it felt like an eternity.’
He said the train was crowded, particularly the first two cars, because they make for an easy exit into the Hoboken station and onto the Path train. Passengers in the second car broke the emergency windows to get out.
‘I saw a woman pinned under concrete,’ Mr Shah told NBC New York. ‘A lot of people were bleeding; one guy was crying.’
Jay Danahy wrote on Twitter: ‘My train just ran full force into Hoboken Station.’ Another person from New York said: ‘Lucky to be alive… we in the second car of the train that crashed in Hoboken.’
Radio station WFAN anchor John Minko told New York radio station WINS that the train ‘went right through the barriers and into the reception area.’
Rail service was suspended in and out of Hoboken, which is 7 miles outside New York City. Hoboken is the final stop for several train lines, and the images show a train that appears to have gone through the bumper stop at the end of a track.
The train came to a halt in a covered area between the station’s indoor waiting area and the platform. A metal structure covering the area collapsed. The damage also appears to be significant with part of the structure of the building collapsing into heaps of twisted metal and bricks.
The Hoboken police chief has said there were ‘mass casualties’ while fire officials said the train appeared to have derailed.
Hoboken, which is New Jersey Transit’s fifth-busiest stations with 15,000 boardings per weekday, is the final stop for several train lines and a transfer point for many commuters on their way to New York City. More photos below....
