11 injured as train derails in New York

New York, Oct 9: At least 11 people sustained injuries when a passenger train running on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in the US state of New York derailed on Saturday night.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said: "At this time 11 people have sustained injuries."

But a Nassau county police spokesperson told the media that an estimated 50 to 100 people were wounded.All information pointed that none of the injuries was life-threatening.

There were about 600 passengers on board when the first three of the train's 12 cars derailed, according to the governor.

The cause of the incident remains unclear, but the media reports said the derailed train had struck a work train on the tracks.

Launched in 1834, the LIRR is a commuter rail system stretching from New York city to the eastern tip of Suffolk county on Long Island.

With an average weekday ridership of nearly 340,000 passengers in 2014, it is believed to be the busiest commuter railroad in North America.

The Saturday derailment came on the heels of another major train accident on September 29, when a New Jersey Transit commuter train crashed into the Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, New Jersey.

One person died and 114 injured in that incident, the cause of which is still being probed.

IANS