- Title: NY commuter train crashes in station, over 100 injured
- Date: 4th January 2017
- Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 4, 2017) (REUTERS) PAN OF DAMAGED LONG ISLAND RAILROAD TRAIN AT PLATFORM VARIOUS OF DAMAGED DOOR OF TRAIN EMERGENCY RESPONDERS ON PLATFORM TRAIN AND PLATFORM SHOWING HOW TRAIN WAS LIFTED BY CRASH ELECTRONIC SIGN ON SIDE OF TRAIN CAR VARIOUS OF DAMAGED TRAIN AND EMERGENCY RESPONDERS INSIDE ENTRANCE TO STATION WHERE STAIRS GO DOWN TO TRACKS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PASSENGER ON CRASHED TRAIN, AARON NEUFELD, SAYING: "We were approaching Atlantic Terminal, it seemed fine. I heard some people afterwards saying we may have been going a little bit too quickly, and apparently we were because we heard this loud boom and we all got thrown, people were standing and getting ready to disembark and they all tumbled to the ground. Bags went flying." NEUFELD SPEAKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) PASSENGER ON CRASHED TRAIN, AARON NEUFELD, SAYING: "After we had stood up in the second car, there were no announcements being made, nobody really knew what happened, but our train had not derailed so we seemed fine, it was pretty quiet. Then once the doors opened we were told 'you gotta get out, you gotta get out, there's smoke', and I stepped onto the platform, and I saw that first car and I realized something serious actually happened here. That first car was raised way up in the air, the front of the car was smashed and there was shattered glass all on the ground." VARIOUS OF STATION
- Embargoed: 19th January 2017 17:12
- Keywords: Long Island Railroad train derailment Brooklyn Atlantic Yards injured
- Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Ground Accidents/Collisions,Disaster/Accidents
- Reuters ID: LVA0015XO21JB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:A New York City train derailed after ramming into a bumper at a downtown Brooklyn terminal during Wednesday's (January 4) morning rush hour, injuring more than 100 commuters in the metropolitan area's second major rail accident since late September.
Emergency crews swarmed Atlantic Terminal after the Long Island Railroad train went off the tracks inside the busy transportation hub at about 8:30 a.m. local time, the New York City Fire Department said.
While none of the injuries were life-threatening, at least 11 people were sent to the hospital, Deputy Assistant Chief Dan Donoghue said at a briefing at the crash site.
The train, arriving from the Queens neighborhood of Far Rockaway, failed to stop on time and struck a bumping block at a fairly low rate of speed, which caused it to derail, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said at the briefing.
About 103 people were injured in the accident, the fire department said in a Twitter message. The front two cars of the six-carriage train were severely damaged.
The engineer was probably responsible for failing to stop the train before it hit the bumper, said Tom Prendergast, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the agency that runs the LIRR.
Cuomo, who has made infrastructure improvements a centerpiece of his agenda, said Wednesday's incident was minor in comparison. The most serious injury in the crash was a broken leg, he said.
In Brooklyn, commuter Aaron Neufeld, who said he was a passenger on the derailed train, describe what happened as the train pulled into the station, "We heard this loud boom and we all got thrown."
"People were standing and getting ready to disembark and they all tumbled to the ground. Bags went flying," added Neufeld.
The U.S. Federal Railroad Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board said they were sending investigators to the scene.
The Long Island Railroad is the United States' largest commuter rail system, serving more than 330,000 passengers a day, according to the American Public Transportation Association.
Atlantic Terminal, which also connects commuters to nine city subway lines, is one of the busiest New York stations. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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