HOBOKEN, N.J. (AP) – A commuter train from New York barreled into a New Jersey rail station during the Thursday morning rush hour, causing an unknown number of injuries. Witnesses reported seeing one woman trapped under concrete and many people bleeding.
TV footage and photos from the scene show damage to the rail car and extensive structural damage to the Hoboken station. Images on social media show a train that appears to have gone through the bumper stop at the end of a track.
“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.”
Nancy Bido, a passenger on the train, told WNBC-TV in New York that train didn’t slow as it pulled into the station. “It just never stopped. It was going really fast and the terminal was basically the brake for the train,” she said.
He said the train was crowded, particularly the first two cars, because they make for an easy exit into the Hoboken station and onto the PATH train. Passengers in the second car broke the emergency windows to get out.