Pancho Bernasconi/Getty Images(HOBOKEN, N.J.) — At least one person died and dozens more were injured, some seriously, when a NJ Transit commuter train carrying 250 people and traveling at a high rate of speed crashed into Hoboken’s historic train station Thursday morning, authorities said.
One area trauma center, Jersey City Medical Center, is treating 11 people injured in the crash, some of them with critical or serious injuries, hospital officials said. None of the injuries at this point are life-threatening. Another approximately 40 people came to the hospital via a NJ Transit bus and are being evaluated.
Investigators said they aren’t sure at this point why the train came into the station at a high speed.
Some passengers confirmed that the train did not appear to slow down as it pulled into Hoboken Terminal between about 8:32 a.m. and 8:45 a.m.
The crash seriously damaged the Hoboken Terminal building itself, leading to an evacuation of the station and to both NJ Transit and PATH, which also runs trains out of the station, to suspend all service there.
“There is heavy structural damage to the terminal, which is why it was evacuated,” said Jennifer Nelson, director of media relations for NJ Transit. “It is not safe to go in there right now.”
Corey Futterman was riding in one of the last cars of the train but was not injured in the crash. He told ABC News that this was “something I’ve never seen before.”
“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,” Futterman said.
Most of those injured appear to have been riding in the first car or were in the station and were struck by debris. Passengers on the second car and further back were able to exit the train. The train’s engineer is among those hospitalized.
Federal investigators are en route, according to Matthew Lehner, spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration. The National Transportation Safety Board is gathering information.
The train on NJ Transit’s Pascack Valley line started in Spring Valley, New York, at 7:23 a.m. ET with a scheduled arrival time in Hoboken of 8:38 a.m. It struck the terminal building on track 5 at approximately 8:45 a.m, according to NJ Transit.
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