Closing summary
Officials still don’t know the cause of a commuter train crash in New Jersey‘s Hoboken rail station, which left at least one person dead and 108 people injured. Local and federal investigators are on the scene, working to determine the cause of the morning rush hour crash.
We’re closing the live blog for now, but will be back with any major updates. Here’s what we currently know about today’s accident:
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The one person killed in the accident was on the platform and hit by falling debris, said New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Most of those injured were inside the train.
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Witnesses said the train, heading from upstate New York to Hoboken, “plowed” into the station at a high speed. Part of the station’s roof collapsed in the devastating accident.
- Though the cause of the accident is unknown, officials said that the train was definitely traveling at a high-speed into the station. It then overran the tracks until it was stopped by crashing into a wall.
- Parts of the terminal remain closed, though a portion of it used for the PATH commuter train service has been re-opened after engineers determined that section was structurally safe.
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Federal investigators said, as part of their investigation, they would look at a crash at the same station in 2011, when a Path commuter train hit the bumpers at the end of the tracks, injuring more than 30 people.
Updated
Christie updated the injury count to 108 people. He said right now, there is still only one fatality.
He and Cuomo went on to emphasize that the pair has worked together many times to respond to natural disasters, terrorist attacks and other crises.
Both men have been governors since 2010, working closely as the heads of the neighboring states.
Christie said he could not remember a time in the history of either state, when two governors together had been “more tested” by crises. He said the first call he received this morning, after speaking with his staff about the accident, was from Cuomo, who cancelled a trip to Israel to respond to the crisis.
Christie also spoke of the region’s resiliency. Christie said: “This region has developed a resilience that is admired by the rest of the world because of how we’ve been tested”.
The person killed in the accident was standing on the platform and hit by debris, said Christie. He did not provide more details on the victim.
Christie said the “most important thing” is to address is the structural safety of the building.
He reiterated that they don’t know why the train crashed, all they know is that it came in “at much too high of speed,” he said.
“We have no indication that this is anything other than a tragic accident,” Christie said, adding that it is still the early stage of the investigation.
“We know what happened, we don’t know why it happened,” said New York governor Andrew Cuomo.
“The silver-lining is there has only been one fatality so far,” he said, noting that the devastation from the crash suggested there could have been more fatalities.
Cuomo said: “These are difficult times over these past weeks and months, between terrorist attacks, natural disasters, we have had our hands full in this country, we have had our hands full in the north-east”.
But, he added, all these things have been dealt with because people are working together.
Governor: cause of accident unknown
New Jersey governor Chris Christie is up first.
“We’re not going to speculate on the cause of the accident,” Christie said.
He said he and Cuomo have been in constant communication through the day. Christie has also spoken with the White House about the accident.
“We pray for the victims and their families,” Christie said.
He said that structural engineers were inspecting the integrity of the building. A portion of the building used for PATH commuter trains has been deemed safe.
It is too soon to know when the terminal will re-open, Christie said.
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New Jersey governor Chris Christie and New York governor Andrew Cuomo are scheduled to provide a update on the crash in 10 minutes.
We’ll have live updates from the briefing.
Until then, here’s the latest news story on this morning’s crash:
More details on the crash from freight train conductor, William Blaine, who said he felt “death was following” him after he saw the train crash.
Blaine said he was just outside of view of the train in a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts when he heard a “kaboom” and “the whole place shook”. He ran to the track, he said, to try and help.
Blaine said the train came into Hoboken station fast – around 30mph. Typically, he said, a train would slow down as it pulled into the station at 30, then 20, 15, and then one or two miles per hour until it hits a bumper at the end of the platform.
Witnesses describe the moment a New Jersey commuter train crashed into the Hoboken station this morning.
Michael Larson, who works for New Jersey Transit, says he saw the train go “through the air”.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) vice chairman, Bella Dinh-Zarr, provided a very brief update on the crash from Washington DC. The federal agency is charged with investigating the cause of the crash.
Dinh-Zarr said that the agency will be assessing the role that a technology designed to slow speeding trains could have played in the system. It is called Positive Train Control (PTC) and is due to be installed in all US railroads by the end of 2018.
It had not yet been installed for this train.
“PTC has been one of our priorities, we know that it can definitely prevent accidents,” said Dinh-Zarr.
She said the NTSB would also examine a crash that occurred at the Hoboken train station on Mother’s Day in 2011. “We are ready to hit the ground running,” Dinh-Zarr said.
Updated
US railroads have until 31 Dec 2018 to install a system that is designed to slow speeding trains, but the train that crashed was not yet equipped with the system, according to the AP.
The technology is called positive train control and the deadline to install it has repeatedly been extended to reach its current 2018 date.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident. The federal agency is scheduled to provide an update on the crash at 12:45p ET.
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Governor Christie told Fox News that no one was believe to be trapped in the train crash.
He said all victims are being taken to one of two local hospitals: Jersey City Medical Center and Hoboken’s Point Care Hospital Center. He said those concerned that family or friends were in the crash should contact the hospitals directly.
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Governor confirms one person dead
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie confirmed that at least one person died in the train crash. He did not identify the victim.
More than 50 people were being treated for injuries at the New Jersey Medical Center.
A New Jersey Transit spokesperson said 250 passengers are usually traveling on that train at the time the crash occurred.
New Jersey Transit director of media relations, Jennifer Nelson, said more than 100 people were injured in a train crash at Hoboken station.
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Officials at Jersey City Medical Center said 51 people were being treated at the hospital.
Three of the injuries were critical, eight were serious and 40 were the “walking wounded,” said Kenneth Garay, the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer.
He said some of those injuries were orthopedic and some were internal.
Hospital CEO, Joseph Scott, said the hospital was also treating people for minor injuries like cuts and head bumps. “I think somebody got hit on the head and has a lump – those sort of things,” Scott said.
Scott noted that Jersey City Medical Center provided care to passengers on the US Airways flight that landed in the Hudson River in 2009.
“Ambulances and firetrucks from neighboring cities arrived at Hoboken train station around 10.45am to help transport dozens of injured passengers,” writes Jessica Glenza, reporting from the scene of the crash.
“Several roads leading to Hoboken were closed by police. Pedestrians in the area meandered around the scene, looking shocked or confused.
Near the station, first responders continuously pushed media further back down the Observer Highway, away from the station. The scenes remained chaotic at 11am, with a mix of dozens of emergency vehicles, sirens flashing and media attempting to film evidence of destruction outside the station”.
William Blaine, a freight engineer, said he saw the train’s engineer slumped over in the front of the train. “[The engineer] was bent over at the front of the train,” Blaine told reporters on the scene.
“What really bothered me was ... I stepped over a dead woman’s body,” Blaine said.
Blaine said he saw the woman on the side of the train and thought she had been hit by debris.
NBC New York, citing multiple anonymous sources, said at least three people died in the crash. Officials have not confirmed how many people, if any, died in the crash.
“The first person I saw had an injury to his head – all bleeding,” Blaine said. “He seemed in shock himself – half in a coma. He passed back out”.
Blaine said he went to help the man, but someone else beat him to it. He then went to help people off the train.
Passengers said the train didn’t slow down as it was pulling into the station, where it hit the rail bumper at the end of the line.
“It just never stopped. It was going really fast and the terminal was basically the brake for the train,” Nancy Bido, a passenger on the train, told WNBC-TV in New York.
“The next thing I know, we are plowing through the platform,” passenger Bhagyesh Shah told NBC New York. “It was for a couple seconds, but it felt like an eternity”.
Shah said he had seen a woman pinned under concrete and many people bleeding.
The train had left Spring Valley, New York, at 7:23 am and crashed into Hoboken Terminal at 8:45 am, according to New Jersey transit.
PV Line train crash in Hoboken Station #NJT #PATH pic.twitter.com/zP7uOjoGHw
— Corey Futterman (@coreyfuttdesign) September 29, 2016
Unbelievable scene in Hoboken right now. Train crashed and went straight through the platform into the station. pic.twitter.com/NK2GDkkQA6
— Chris Lantero (@Chris_Lantero) September 29, 2016
The Guardian video team has obtained footage of the immediate aftermath of the crash in Hoboken.
New Jersey Transit said in its latest statement that initial reports indicate “multiple critical injuries”.
Train #1614 on the Pascack Valley line left from Spring Valley, New York, bound for Hoboken. It struck the Hoboken Terminal building on track 5, NJ Transit said.
Train service is suspended into and out of Hoboken Terminal. “NJ Transit bus, private carriers and ferry services are cross-honoring NJT rail tickets and passes,” the statement said.
Officials are due to provide an update near the terminal soon.
Updated
A New Jersey commuter train crashed into a rail station during rush hour this morning, injuring more than 100 people.
New Jersey Transit spokeswoman Jennifer Nelson said several passengers were critically injured.
The New Jersey Transit train crashed into a rail station in Hoboken at 8:45am. Nelson told Fox News that about 250 passengers are usually on board the train around that time.
Rail service was suspended in and out of the city, which is about a 30-minute train journey outside of midtown Manhattan.
More than 30 people were injured in a crash at the same station in 2011, when a Path commuter train hit the bumpers at the end of the tracks.
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