New York – A Long Island Rail Road passenger train derailed on Saturday near the community of New Hyde Park, New York, injuring more than a dozen people and halting service on the key transit line in both directions, railroad and police officials said.
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Official details were not available on the precise circumstances of the incident, which occurred at about 9 p.m. local time, when a passenger train struck a work train about 20 miles (32 km) east of Manhattan, according to police.
It was not immediately clear if the work train was stationary at the time.
Nassau County Police spokeswoman Mary Verna told Reuters by telephone an estimated 15 to 20 people were hurt in the accident, far fewer than authorities reported earlier, and that none of the injuries was believed to be life-threatening.
A statement from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, citing “early reports,” put the number of injuries at 11, “none of which are considered to be serious.”
According to Cuomo, the 12-car train was heading eastbound on the railroad’s main line carrying about 600 passengers when the first three cars derailed a half mile east of the New Hyde Park Station.
Photos from the scene of the wreck posted on social media showed at least two of the derailed train cars leaning upright but askew and partly off the track.
The New Hyde Park stop is just east of the border with the New York City borough of Queens. The rail line, one of the busiest commuter routes into America’s largest city, said the derailment had forced suspension of service in both directions.
Saturday’s accident on Long Island comes nine days after a passenger train crashed into a terminal in Hoboken, New Jersey, a major commuter route from New York City’s western suburbs. That crash killed one person and injured more than 100.
