1 Dead, More Than 100 Hurt When Commuter Train Crashes In New Jersey
(CBS) -- At least one person died, and more than 100 people were injured when a commuter train in New Jersey crashed into a wall after entering a station in Hoboken on Thursday.
"What we know is that this train came in at a high rate of speed into the station and crashed through all of the barriers bring it right into the interior wall of the Hoboken Terminal," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said during an afternoon press conference.
Christie said the engineer operating the train was critically injured and is cooperating with law enforcement officials in the investigation.
Earlier reports indicated that three people had been killed in the crash, but Christie said there has been one fatality — a woman who was killed in the terminal.
It has not yet been determined what caused the crash, but it left debris scattered all over the station, including metal, wires and concrete. Part of the station's ceiling also collapsed. A law enforcement source told CBS News that nothing has been ruled out as to a cause of the crash, but preliminarily it appears to have been an accident — that the train derailed, causing it to strike the station.
"It simply did not stop," WFAN anchor John Minko, who witnessed the crash, told 1010 WINS. "It went right through the barriers and into the reception area."
Images from the scene bear a striking resemblance to a CTA Blue Line crash at O'Hare International Airport in 2014.
In the Blue Line crash, the CTA train operator fell asleep at the controls before entering the O'Hare terminal. That operator was fired.
The NTSB blamed operator fatigue and design flaws with the automated braking system at the station.
More than 30 people were injured in the Blue line Crash, which caused more than $9 million in damages to CTA property. The station was closed for a week for repairs.
