Train in Deadly Derailment Wouldn't Slow Down: Operator

Passenger train derails in the Bronx; at least 4 dead
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 1, 2013 7:17 AM CST
Updated Dec 1, 2013 10:43 AM CST
Train Derails in NYC; Some Cars Submerged
Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a Metro-North passenger train derailment in the Bronx borough of New York Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013.   (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

At least four people are dead and 63 hurt after a Metro-North passenger train derailed on a curved section of track in the Bronx this morning, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says, according to the AP. Metropolitan Transportation Authority police say the train derailed near the Spuyten Duyvil station in a "slow speed area," and one passenger says it seemed to be traveling "a lot faster" than usual as it approached the sharp curve. The train operator, who was injured, told investigators he tried to apply the brakes but the train wouldn't slow, CNN reports.

Seven of the eight cars derailed just 100 yards from the station, and at least two flipped onto their sides. Three of the dead were thrown from the train, and the fourth was found inside. Police divers were searching for victims in the Harlem River, feet away from one of the cars, as cadaver dogs searched through the wreckage, but police think all the passengers have now been accounted for. The southbound Hudson Line train had left Poughkeepsie at 5:54am and was scheduled to arrive at Grand Central Terminal at 7:43am. NTSB investigators are headed to the scene. (A freight train also derailed in New Mexico yesterday, killing its three operators when it plunged down a ravine.)

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