One witness reported that the train "never slowed down" as it entered the station, which is located at the end of the line. The cab car sustained major structural damage. Entering the Hoboken terminal around 8:45 a.m., the train went over the bumper block and through the rail concourse, coming to rest at the wall right before the station's waiting area. Pascack Valley Line train #1614 left the Spring Valley station in Spring Valley, New York, at 7:23 a.m. Thank you for the outpouring of support and to all the first responders on scene.Cab car #6036 resting against the terminal wall after the crash Hoboken City Mayor Dawn Zimmer offered the following statement: “My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected. Most of those injured were on the train at the time of the crash, Christie said. Other patients at Jersey City Medical Center have been discharged and sent to area nursing homes to open up beds for crash victims.įour patients were taken to Hoboken University Medical Center, and “many more” were transported to other nearby hospitals, an official said. It’s a set-up that mirrors how the same hospital responded when Flight 1549, famously piloted by Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, landed on the Hudson River. “The walking wounded,” many of whom were taken to the hospital on an NJ Transit bus, are being treated in the hospital’s cafeteria and are expected to be discharged soon, an official said. Multiple people are considered critically injured. I saw some blood,” Offengenden said.Ībout 40 patients were transported to Jersey City Medical Center, including 11 who are in the emergency department. Once outside the train, “a man walked past me holding his arm. “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 lights went out and a few people screamed.” Passenger Leon Offengenden told CNN he was in one of the sections behind the lead car when the crash happened. “It’s not safe to go in there right now.” “There’s heavy structural damage to the terminal,” she said. The train blew through barriers and took out part of the ceiling and support beams, coming to a stop at the wall leading into the terminal’s reception area, Christie said.Ĭommuters are advised to avoid the area, Nelson said. Images from the scene showed heavy damage to the 109-year-old station, which in 1973 was added to the U.S. Within minutes, dramatic photos and first-hand accounts flooded social media. The crash happened during the morning rush-hour commute at one of the busiest transit stations in New Jersey. In the 2011 incident, 34 people were injured when a PATH train slammed into a bumper at the end of a track, NJ.com reports. “We always look at past history and every other factor,” an NTSB official said. She urged anyone with “relevant information” to email investigation will include a look at similarities between Thursday’s deadly incident and another crash at the same station on Mother’s Day in 2011, NTSB officials said. Because of the terminal’s age, asbestos is also a concern as the carcinogenic material, used as insulation, may have been released into the air when the walls and ceiling shattered in the crash. Officials arrived at the scene Thursday evening.ĭinh-Zarr said water is leaking onto the site of the crash, sparking concern about the terminal’s structural integrity. The federal National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation into the cause of the crash. No NJ Transit trains have automatic breaking technology, report shows.In this day and age, you think it’s a bomb,” he said. “People were buried under the rocks.”īut as of Thursday afternoon, there was nothing to indicate the crash was “anything but a tragic accident,” Christie said. Initial fears were that something sinister occurred to cause the crash, a vehicle inspector who was in the station at the time said. It’s not yet known how fast the train was traveling. The speed limit coming into the station is 10 mph, Bella Dinh-Zarr, vice chairman of the NTSB, said. Andrew Cuomo said it’s too early to tell what caused the crash and urged the public not to “speculate,” but said what is known for sure is that the train entered the station at a “high rate of speed.” commuter train crashes since 2000īoth Christie and New York Gov. “There were people in front of me that just toppled over … they were trapped. They couldn’t get out,” she said. The packed, fast-moving train didn’t seem to slow when approaching the station, said Jamie Weatherhead, a commuter inside the train. and will be questioned by federal investigators. That engineer has been identified as Thomas Gallagher. An NTSB official said Gallagher has been released from the hospital as of 5:45 p.m. Among those critically injured is the train’s engineer, Christie said.
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