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The Latest: Crash investigation hampered by safety issues

A woman is wheeled away from the Hoboken Terminal train station on a stretcher Thursday Sept. 29, 2016, after a New Jersey Transit commuter train from New York barreled into the station during the morning rush hour, in Hoboken, N.J. (AP Photo/Karen Matthews)
Original Publication Date September 29, 2016 - 7:00 AM

HOBOKEN, N.J. - The Latest on the commuter train that crashed into a station in New Jersey (all times local):

5:40 p.m.

The National Transportation Safety Board says the investigation into the New Jersey train crash has been hampered by safety issues.

NTSB Vice Chairwoman T. Bella Dinh-Zarr said Thursday that the canopy of the more than 100-year-old train station building in Hoboken is resting on top of the car that sped off the tracks and the NTSB is waiting until it's safe to go into that area.

She says water has been leaking in all day and there may also be asbestos contamination because of the age of the building.

Dinh-Zarr said investigators have access to the train's locomotive and expect to pull the train's data recorder Thursday night.

She says the train's engineer was controlling the locomotive from a control cab in the train's front passenger car.

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5:25 p.m.

A second New Jersey hospital says seven victims of the train crash are still receiving treatment there and are in stable condition.

Hoboken University Medical Center said Thursday that it received 23 patients after the train crash in Hoboken during morning rush hour. It says all but seven of those patients have since been released.

Jersey City Medical Center said earlier Thursday that it had received 66 patients and all but 13 had already been released. The 13 are trauma patients, and the hospital says none of them are critically injured.

A 34-year-old Hoboken woman who was standing on the platform when the train came barrelling in was the sole fatality of the crash. The state medical examiner's office identified her as Fabiola Bittar de Kroon.

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5:15 p.m.

The only person who died in the New Jersey train crash has been identified as a 34-year-old woman from Hoboken.

The state medical examiner's office said Thursday that the victim is Fabiola Bittar de Kroon. Gov. Chris Christie says she had been standing on the platform when the train came barrelling in and she was struck by debris.

The New Jersey Transit train ran off the end of its track as it pulled into the Hoboken station during rush hour Thursday morning, smashing through a concrete-and-steel bumper.

Cries and screams could be heard in the wreckage as emergency workers rushed to reach commuters in the tangle of twisted metal and dangling wires.

More than 100 other people were injured. Christie says no one else is expected to die.

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5 p.m.

The mayor of a New Jersey city where a train crashed during the morning rush hour says the woman who died was from Hoboken.

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer confirmed Thursday that the sole victim of the crash was a resident of Hoboken. More than 100 other people were injured, including nearly 75 who were sent to hospitals.

Zimmer says her thoughts and prayers go out to the victim's family. She says that she can't give any more information on the woman's identity but noted that "we're in great sadness over that loss."

Gov. Chris Christie said earlier that the woman had been standing on the platform and was hit by debris. But he says most of the people who were injured were on the train.

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4:50 p.m.

A New Jersey hospital says it has 13 patients in guarded condition after a train crash in Hoboken.

Jersey City Medical Center says it treated 66 people, including 13 who were trauma patients. The hospital says none of them are critically injured.

The hospital says 53 patients were walk-ins with minor injuries. All of them have been released.

The update from the hospital came hours after a New Jersey Transit train crashed through a barrier at the busy Hoboken station and lurched across the waiting area during the Thursday morning rush hour. One woman on the platform was killed, and more than 100 other people were injured.

Gov. Chris Christie says investigators will be looking into why the train came into the station at a high rate of speed.

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3:50 p.m.

PATH train service to the Hoboken, New Jersey, rail station from New York City has been restored after a deadly train crash.

The transit agency says service from Hoboken to 33rd Street and the World Trade Center stations, however, remains suspended until further notice.

The New Jersey Transit train crashed into the Hoboken Terminal during the Thursday morning rush hour, killing one woman and injuring more than 100 other people.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the crash. The train was speeding as it entered the station.

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2:45 p.m.

The presidential nominees are extending their best wishes to the victims of the New Jersey train crash.

Democrat Hillary Clinton said from Iowa on Thursday that she was sending her "thoughts and prayers" to the victims and their families. She says the crash was personal to her as a New York resident, and she called it a "horrible accident."

Republican Donald Trump tweeted, "My condolences to those involved in today's horrible accident in NJ and my deepest gratitude to all of the amazing first responders."

The New Jersey Transit train crashed into the Hoboken Terminal during the Thursday morning rush hour, killing one woman and injuring more than 100 other people.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the crash. The train was speeding as it entered the station.

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2:20 p.m.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says most of the injuries in the Hoboken train crash came from people aboard the train, not standing on the platform.

However, Christie noted Thursday at a news conference that the one person who died was a woman who was standing on the platform and was struck by debris. He says 108 people were injured.

Christie says there is no reason to believe there will be any more fatalities.

Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo say the New Jersey Transit train was going too fast when it came into the station Thursday morning, but it's unclear why.

Christie says there's no indication so far that the crash was anything but a "tragic accident," but he noted it was too early to make assumptions.

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2 p.m.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says the engineer involved in the train crash in Hoboken is in critical condition.

Christie said Thursday at a news conference that the engineer was co-operating with investigators.

The New Jersey Transit train crashed during rush hour Thursday morning. Witnesses reported that it came speeding into the station and hit a concrete-and-steel bumper. It apparently knocked out pillars as it ground to a halt in a covered waiting area, collapsing a section of the roof onto the first car.

Christie says one woman was killed in the crash and 108 people were injured. Authorities had previously said one person was killed and more than 100 people were injured.

Authorities say the cause of the crash wasn't immediately clear.

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1:50 p.m.

A New Jersey Transit machinist at the Hoboken train station when a train crashed says he saw it coming in at a high rate of speed and strike a bumper block, which caused the front car to go into the air.

Michael Larson says the train travelled about 40 feet after going airborne and hit the wall of a waiting room at the station in New Jersey at morning rush hour Thursday.

Larson says the bumper blocks are made of concrete and steel.

Gov. Chris Christie says one person was killed. Area hospitals report that 74 patients were being treated, including three who suffered traumatic injuries.

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1:20 p.m.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has cancelled a trip to Israel for Shimon Peres' funeral because of the deadly commuter train crash in New Jersey.

The Democratic governor had planned to pay his respects to the former Israeli leader on Friday. Instead he will tour the crash site with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Cuomo says a large number of New Yorkers were on the train when it crashed into the station in Hoboken. One person was killed and 74 others were hospitalized.

He says New York State Police are assisting in the response to the crash, along with officials from other local, state and federal agencies.

Cuomo says the crash will likely cause "major delays" into New York City.

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1:15 p.m.

Hospitals in New Jersey say they have received 74 patients from the Hoboken train crash.

A spokesman for Jersey City Medical Center says it got 51 injured. Three are trauma patients in serious condition, while eight others are in less serious condition. Forty others were brought in by bus, were triaged and were being treated in its cafeteria.

Officials at Hoboken University Medical Center say they received 22 patients. Three of them had broken bones, while the rest had bumps, cuts and other minor injuries.

The two hospitals are the primary places taking those injured in the crash, which killed one person. Another patient was taken to Christ Hospital in Jersey City.

The New Jersey Transit train overran the end of the tracks in Hoboken and smashed into the station.

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11:55 a.m.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says no one is believed to be trapped on the commuter train that crashed in Hoboken.

Christie spoke Thursday to Fox News, more than two hours after the New Jersey Transit train overran the end of the line and crashed into the Hoboken station. He confirms that there has been one fatality. More than 100 others were injured.

The governor says he, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and New Jersey Transit are co-ordinating on the response.

Christie says all victims are being taken to one of two hospitals in the area: Jersey City Medical Center and Point Care Hospital Center in Hoboken. He says loved ones should contact the hospitals directly to get information on family members who may be hospitalized.

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11:40 a.m.

The New Jersey Transit train that crashed in Hoboken, killing one person and injuring more than 100 others, was not equipped with a technology that is designed to slow speeding trains.

U.S. railroads are under government orders to install the system called positive train control, but the work has gone more slowly than expected. The deadline has been repeatedly extended and is now Dec. 31, 2018.

Bob Chipkevich, who formerly headed the National Transportation Safety Board's train crash investigations section, says the agency will be looking at whether the train was exceeding speed limits, both when it was approaching the station and when it entered the station area.

Last month, the Federal Railroad Administration said New Jersey Transit had a lot of work yet to do on installing the necessary equipment. New Jersey Transit responded that the report didn't reflect the work it had accomplished.

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11 a.m.

A state lawmaker says one person was killed and two critically injured when a commuter train plowed into the Hoboken station.

Democratic Assemblyman Raj Mukherji, who represents Hoboken, said a transit official confirmed the death to him. A New Jersey Transit spokeswoman, Jennifer Nelson, earlier said that more than 100 people were injured in the crash.

The train from New York crashed during the Thursday morning rush hour. It caused serious damage to both the train and station. Witnesses reported injuries, including one woman who was trapped under concrete and many people bleeding.

The National Transportation Safety Board is opening an investigation into the crash, and is sending a team of investigators to the scene.

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10:20 a.m.

A New Jersey Transit spokeswoman says that more than 100 people were injured, some critically, when a commuter train plowed into the Hoboken station.

The train from New York crashed during the Thursday morning rush hour. It caused serious damage to both the train and station. Witnesses reported injuries, including one woman who was trapped under concrete and many people bleeding.

The spokeswoman, Jennifer Nelson, says she doesn't know yet how fast the train was going when it ran into the rail bumper at the end of the line.

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10 a.m.

A New Jersey Transit spokeswoman says that a commuter train that crashed into a train station in Hoboken was coming from Spring Valley, New York, on the Pascack Valley Line.

Nancy Snyder says there were multiple injuries, but it's not clear how many, after Train No. 1614 crashed into the Hoboken train station around 8:45 a.m. She says the train left Spring Valley at 7:23 a.m. Thursday.

TV footage and photos from the scene Thursday morning show damage to the rail car and extensive structural damage to the Hoboken station.

A spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration says that investigators have been dispatched to the scene.

Passengers heading to New York City transfer from New Jersey Transit trains at Hoboken to board other trains and ferries to get into Manhattan.

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9:55 a.m.

A passenger says the commuter train that crashed in New Jersey was crowded and plowed through the platform at the end of the line.

Bhagyesh Shah told NBC New York he saw a lot of people bleeding and a woman pinned under concrete Thursday morning at New Jersey Transit's Hoboken station.

Shah says he was in the back of the train but that many people use the front cars, since it makes for an easier exit. He says the train plowed into the platform. He says it lasted only a couple seconds, "but it felt like an eternity."

He tells the TV station that passengers in the second car broke the emergency windows to get out.

Images from the scene show damage to the rail car and extensive structural damage, but there's no official word on the number of injuries.

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9:30 a.m.

A commuter train has crashed into a rail station in New Jersey during the morning rush hour, causing serious damage.

TV footage and photos from the scene Thursday morning show damage to the rail car and extensive structural damage to the Hoboken station.

Radio station WFAN anchor John Minko told New York radio station WINS that the train "went right through the barriers and into the reception area."

Rail service was suspended in and out of Hoboken, which is 7 miles outside New York City.

There is no word so far on any injuries.

Emergency crews are arriving on the scene.

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9:10 a.m.

A commuter train has crashed into a rail station in New Jersey.

Emergency crews are arriving on the scene in Hoboken on Thursday morning.

Photos from the scene show a damaged New Jersey Transit rail car inside the station, surrounded by debris.

There is no word on the damage or any possible injuries.

Hoboken is across the river from New York City.

News from © The Associated Press, 2016
The Associated Press

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