A PATH train crashed into a platform at the end of the tracks while pulling into Hoboken station yesterday morning, injuring 42 people.
The train failed to stop properly as it was pulling into Track 2 and slammed into the rubber bumper put in place at the end of the tracks to absorb impact. The accident, which knocked riders off their seats and into the air, happened at about 8:30 a.m.
While the exact cause of the accident is under investigation, the Port Authority, which operates the PATH, is investigating both human and mechanical failure. The conductor, as part of regular protocol, was issued a drug test yesterday after the crash.
There were about 90 people aboard the train and 42 of them were sent to hospitals in Hoboken and Jersey City. Injuries included bruises, sore necks and a bloody nose, with at least one child hurt, according to Hoboken Police Captain James Fitzsimmons.
Hoboken University Medical Center was “inundated with 18 patients,” said one nurse on staff. They came in with head, neck and shoulder injuries and most were rushed in on backboards, she said. Many lined up to receive CT scans.
Other riders were treated at Jersey City Medical Center for whiplash and scrapes, said a hospital spokesman.
I?was on that train
HOBOKEN – Leidy Tavarez, 21, was on her way home to Newark after an 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift as a security guard. She’d fallen asleep in the front of the train just as it pulled into Hoboken from New York.
“Two minutes before this happened, I woke up,” she said. “I saw the train was slowing, but then it was so fast. I just tried to protect myself,” she continued, but she hit her head on a pole.
“I was screaming, yelling, ‘Oh my God, what happened?’” she said. She was treated at Hoboken University Medical Center.
PATH service in and out of Hoboken was shut down from 8:30 a.m. and remained out all day.
Follow Alison Bowen on Twitter @AlisonatMetro.
