4th LD Writethru: At least 1 confirmed dead in New Jersey transit train crash

One person was confirmed dead and some 100 people injured after a transit train crashed into Hoboken station, the U.S. state of New Jersey, during Thursday morning's rush-hour, authorities said.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said one death has been confirmed, noting that so far no signs indicated the crash "was anything other than accident."

Earlier, local TV station WNBC reported three fatalities due to the crash.

The train plowed into Hoboken station just before 9:00 am local time (1300 GMT) when around 250 passengers were on board. Hoboken station, which sits 11 kilometers outside New York city, is a hub for commuters to switch for Manhattan.

All trapped people have been rescued from the train wreckage, according to local media reports. Jersey City Medical Center officials said they have seen 40 walk-in patients from the crash, with 11 patients in the emergency department.

Hoboken University Medical Center officials said they received 22 patients from the crash, including five with lacerations and three fractures.

"Initial reports indicate multiple critical injuries," said the New Jersey Transit in a statement.

"At approximately 8:45 a.m., train 1614, a Pascack Valley line departure from Spring Valley operating to Hoboken, struck the Hoboken Terminal building on track 5," said the statement.

A large part of station roof has collapsed amid heavy and extensive damage to the train and the station due to the crash. Twisted piles of metal and bricks as well as other debris are scattered across the platform, pictures on social media show.

Preliminary reports suggested the crash was an accident or caused by operator error, though it was early in the investigation.

Some witnesses said the train went into the station at a speed "faster than usual."

"Just felt like it (the train) never stopped. It didn't slow down. It didn't brake," Jamie Weatherhead-Sal, a passenger in the first car of the train, told NBC.

The train "went right through the barriers and into the reception area," Radio station WFAN anchor John Minko said earlier.

Mr. Rosenthal, a Hoboken resident who lives just blocks away from the station, told Xinhua that the town hadn't seen any major train accident like this for the past 20 years.

"It was tragic and terrible," said Rosentha, adding that he decided to work at home for the day due to the expected traffic turmoil triggered by the accident.

Several fast food stores and bars close to the scene put out free coffee and mineral water on the roadside for the emergency response staff passing by.

The train was not equipped with Positive Train Control (PTC) technology that can automatically slow down trains when they exceed the speed limit on a stretch of track and therefore could have prevented it from roaring off the rails, according to a NBC news report.

The absence of PTC was blamed by the National Transportation Safety Board for the 2015 derailment of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia that left eight people dead. The New Jersey Transit has a Dec. 31, 2018 deadline for putting this technology in place.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said federal rail investigators have arrived on site. All rail service has been suspended in and out of Hoboken after the crash. Enditem