Four die, dozens hurt as NYC train derails
Some of the 100 to 150 passengers on the early morning Metro-North train from suburban Poughkeepsie to Manhattan were jolted awake at around 7.20am to screams and the sensation of their compartment rolling over on a bend where the Hudson and Harlem rivers meet in the Bronx.
When the motion stopped, four or five of the seven cars were off the rails.
Eleven of those hurt were believed to be critically injured and another six seriously hurt, according to the fire department.
The train driver was among the injured.
The train, headed south towards Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal, was about half full at the time of the crash with about 150 passengers and was not scheduled to stop at the Spuyten Duyvil station, said the state’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), parent company of Metro North.
“On a workday, fully occupied, it would have been a tremendous disaster,” New York City fire commissioner Salvatore Joseph Cassano told reporters at the scene.
The National Transportation Safety Board was en route to investigate, and New York governor Andrew Cuomo would not speculate at a press conference about the causes of the crash until the federal agency issued its findings.
MTA chairman Thomas Prendergast said investigators would look at factors including the train, the track and signal system, the train operators, and speed.
The big curve where the derailment occurred is in a slow-speed area. Several injured passengers said the train seemed to be going too fast as it took the curve near the Spuyten Duyvil station.
Within minutes, dozens of emergency crews arrived and carried passengers away on stretchers, some wearing neck braces.
Passengers were taken off the derailed train, with dozens of them bloodied and scratched, holding ice packs to their heads.
The fire department said 130 firefighters had responded to the derailment.
MTA spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said the train’s data recorders should be able to tell how fast it was travelling.
Joel Zaritsky was dozing as he travelled to the city for a dental convention.
“I woke up when the car started rolling several times. Then I saw the gravel coming at me, and I heard people screaming,” he said.
“There was smoke everywhere and debris. People were thrown to the other side of the train.”
Mike Gallo heard the crash as he was walking his dog. He looked down at the tracks and “knew it was a tragedy right away. I saw injured people climbing out of the train”.
“This curve’s been here a long, long time,” Gallo said, adding that the spot has a reputation for being treacherous, especially if a train is speeding.
Three of the dead were found outside the train, and one was found inside, authorities said. Their families had not yet been notified.
President Barack Obama said his thoughts and prayers are with the friends and families of the victims of the train derailment. The White House issued a statement saying the president was briefed on the accident and would continue to stay in touch with New York officials.
Yesterday’s incident is the second passenger train derailment in six months for the rail service.
On May 17, an eastbound train derailed in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and was struck by a westbound train. The crash injured 73 passengers, two engineers, and a conductor.
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