Hoboken train crash: Deaths and injuries in New Jersey

Rail service suspended in and out of Hoboken after deadly commuter train crash causes structural damage to station.

A commuter train has crashed into a rail station in the US city of Hoboken in New Jersey state, killing at least one person and injuring more than 100 others.

TV footage and images posted on social media on Thursday showed the damage to the railway carriage and extensive structural damage to the Hoboken station.

NBC News New York earlier reported that three people had been killed, but later downgraded it to one. At least 114 people were reported to be hurt, according to New Jersey governor Chris Christie.   

Nancy Bido, a passenger on the train, told WNBC-TV in New York that the train did not slow down as it pulled into the station.

“It just never stopped. It was going really fast, and the terminal was basically the brake for the train,” she said. 

Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from New York, said investigators are now looking into why “fail-safe measures” did not work to prevent incident.   

 Emergency crews were seen arriving at the scene of the crash in Hoboken [AFP]
Emergency crews were seen arriving at the scene of the crash in Hoboken [AFP]

John Minko, of the WFAN radio station, told New York radio station WINS that the train “went right through the barriers and into the reception area”.

Rail services were suspended in and out of Hoboken, which is about 11km across the Hudson River from New York City.

Emergency crews are arriving on the scene.

‘Pinned under concrete’

Bhagyesh Shah, a passenger, said the train was crowded, particularly the first two carriages, because they make for an easy exit into the Hoboken station.

Passengers in the second carriage reportedly broke the emergency windows to get out.

“I saw a woman pinned under concrete,” Shah told WNBC-TV in New York. “A lot of people were bleeding; one guy was crying.”

More than 100,000 people use the New Jersey trains to commute from New Jersey into New York City daily.

A crash at the same station on a different train line injured more than 30 people in 2011.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies