Commuter trains collide in Conn.; 60 hurt
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - Two commuter trains serving New York City crashed in Connecticut during Friday's evening rush hour, sending 60 people to the hospital, including five critically injured and one very critically injured, Gov. Dannel Malloy said. There were no reports of fatalities.
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - Two commuter trains serving New York City crashed in Connecticut during Friday's evening rush hour, sending 60 people to the hospital, including five critically injured and one very critically injured, Gov. Dannel Malloy said. There were no reports of fatalities.
The Metro-North Railroad, a commuter line serving the northern suburbs, referred in a news release to a "major derailment" near Fairfield, just outside Bridgeport. It said emergency workers were at the scene of the accident, shortly after 6 p.m.
"We're most concerned about the injured and ultimately reopening the system," Malloy said from the scene about three hours after the crash. He said there was no reason to believe it was anything other than an accident.
Malloy said that most people were not seriously hurt, but that there was extensive damage to the train cars and the track. It could take until Monday for normal service to be restored, he said.
The area where the accident happened, he said, was down to two tracks because of repair work, and the accident will have a "big impact on the Northeast Corridor."
Bill Kaempffer, a spokesman for Bridgeport public safety, told the Associated Press that about 250 people were on board the two trains.
Photos taken at the scene showed a train car askew on the rails, with its end smashed up and brushing against another train. Amtrak suspended service indefinitely between New York and Boston.
"At this stage, we don't know if this is a mechanical failure, an accident or something deliberate," Fairfield police spokesman Lt. James Perez told the Connecticut Post.
The railroad said a train that departed New York City's Grand Central Station en route to New Haven derailed. A westbound train on an adjacent track then struck the derailed train. Some cars on the second train also derailed.
Bridgeport Police Chief Joseph Gaudett said that everybody who needed treatment had been attended to and that authorities were beginning to turn their attention to investigating the cause.