Train didn't have positive train control system, but unclear if that would have helpedPassengers say the train didn't feel as if it slowed down entering station at end of line.
A
New Jersey Transit train plowed through a major station in Hoboken
during Thursday morning's rush-hour commute, killing at least one person
and injuring more than 100 others, officials said.
Witnesses
said the train overran its stopping point, slammed into a bumper block,
went airborne and hurtled through a passenger concourse at about 8:45
a.m. at the terminal, one of the busiest transit hubs in the New York
area.
The person killed was standing on the platform and was struck by debris from the crash, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said.
Bhagyesh
Shah, who rode in the back of the front car on his way to work, said
the train didn't appear to slow as it entered the station.
"The next thing I know, I'm
on the floor. We are plowing through something ... and when the train
came to a stop, I could see the parts of the roof on the first car and
some of the debris next to me," Shah said.
Images
posted on social media showed severe structural damage at the station,
where part of the roof appeared to have collapsed. Witnesses described
people helping bloodied passengers, some trapped by debris, from the
packed front car.
Live developments: Hoboken train crash
The crash comes five years after more than 30 people were injured when a train overran its stop at the same station -- which will
be examined as investigators try to determine what caused Thursday's
crash, said Bella Dinh-Zarr, National Transportation Safety Board vice
chairwoman.
The train's engineer
was "critically injured' and receiving care at a hospital, and was
cooperating with law enforcement officials, Christie said.
CNN's survey of local hospitals tallied 112 injured people.
Car's roof crushed down to the seats
The
train -- which Christie said had an engine pushing four passenger cars
-- was at the end of a 17-stop route that had begun more than an hour
earlier in Spring Valley, New York. The Hoboken hub primarily serves the
Lower Manhattan commuter market.
A
New Jersey Transit worker at the station said he heard an
explosion-like sound as the lead car, coming into the station fast,
slammed into the bumper block, a device meant to halt trains that pass
their stops.
Passengers recount the crash
"It
went up and over the bumper block, through the depot ... and came to
rest at the wall by the waiting room," worker Mike Larson said.
"It was going considerably faster than it should have normally been."
Half
of the first car was crumpled, and the roof crushed down to the seats,
he said. The train should have stopped 10 to 20 feet before the bumper
block, he said.
Some federal
lawmakers said positive train control -- a system that combines GPS,
wireless radio and computers to monitor trains and stop them from
colliding, derailing or speeding -- might have helped in this situation.
Dinh-Zarr, of the NTSB, said part of the focus of her agency's
investigation will be on positive train control and whether it could
have prevented the crash.
New
Jersey Transit has not yet installed positive train control, although it
does an older safety system. Congress originally required the newer
safety system to be installed by the end of 2015, but extended the
deadline to the end of 2018.
Christie
and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo cautioned people to wait until
investigations are completed before concluding PTC would have prevented
this incident.
"That's speculation
that can only be based upon the cause of the accident, and until we
know the cause of the accident were not going to be able to know what
steps we can take in the future to avoid an accident like this,"
Christie said.
'I guess it didn't slow down'
Passenger Leon Offengenden said he was in one of the cars behind the lead car when the crash happened.
"The
front car is essentially off the rails ... into the building of the
station, with the roof sort of collapsed around it," he said.
"The
first car was just demolished. The train looked like it went through
the stop," Offengenden said. "The first car looked like it catapulted
onto the platform into the building. The roof collapsed. There was wire
and water (and) everything.
"The lights went out and a few people screamed (when the crash happened)."
"I was sitting, but I couldn't see the window. I didn't notice that the train was going at an accelerated
pace. It was just going," Offengenden said.
Paul Murphy described a chaotic scene at the station, with the arrival of first respondents from various agencies, sirens blaring and nearby streets cordoned off.
"I was sitting, but I couldn't see the window. I didn't notice that the train was going at an accelerated
pace. It was just going," Offengenden said.
"Now,
looking back, I guess it didn't slow down. It definitely didn't slow
down. There (were) no brakes. All of a sudden, it just crashed.
Something happened obviously. ... It's the same feeling as when you get
in a car crash."
He said he left
the train and "saw a man who had blood just running down his arm. He was
wearing a suit and blood was just gushing."
'It kept going and going'
Shah, one of the passengers, said people were thrown around upon impact.
"I
was hoping the train would stop now, but it just didn't stop. It kept
going and going. At the end of it, it felt like eternity."
He saw people injured.
"There
was a woman. ... She was pinned under ... debris next to the first car.
There were seven to eight people that tried to pick that (debris) up."
"I saw an old man, too, who had head injuries, trying to get out of the first car."
Rail service suspended
Rail
service was suspended in and out of Hoboken into the afternoon as a
result of the crash, which happened on a cool day with overcast skies.
New Jersey Transit train service will be suspended indefinitely, until the damage can be assessed and repaired.
However, Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation (PATH) trains will resume service through Hoboken on Thursday afternoon, state Transportation Commissioner Richard Hammer said.
Engineers determined that the structural integrity of the potion of the station that serves PATH trains is intact, Hammer said.
Paul Murphy described a chaotic scene at the station, with the arrival of first respondents from various agencies, sirens blaring and nearby streets cordoned off.
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