LIRR train derails at Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Dozens of people were hurt when a Long Island Rail Road train crashed into the end of a track at Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.

At around 8:20 a.m., the Far Rockaway train was approaching the bumping block at the end of track 6 when the train hit the block and went up and over it, MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast said.

“The lead truck is derailed and one other axle is derailed,” Prendergast said. “The incident is still under investigation, as we always say, we need to make sure we determine what happened and why it happened.”

.@MTA LIRR train derailment: emergency personnel/traffic & transit delays/road closures near Atlantic Ave & Flatbush Ave, BK

— NYCEM – Notify NYC (@NotifyNYC) January 4, 2017

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said authorities don’t yet know why the engineer failed to slow down or stop.

“What happened with the operator, we don’t know and obviously there will be an investigation to find out exactly what happened and why the operator didn’t stop the train before it hit the bumping block,” he said.

Some passengers described a large jolt that sent people flying.

“I was getting up from my seat and there was a loud impact and I flew forward and then flew backward,” a passenger named Amanda told CBS2’s Janelle Burrell. “It was total chaos, there was smoke on the train and we were sitting there in shock.”

“We were pulling into the station in what appeared to be its regular speed and suddenly there was a jolt and a jump up. I was sitting at the time, jumped out of my seat and then back down and up again,” a passenger named David, who said he was in the first car, told CBS2’s Magdalena Doris. “The train jumped the end of the line and went right over the embankment and into a station office and people who were standing up to exit the train all toppled on top of each other.”

The FDNY says at least 103 people suffered non-life threatening injuries. Images from the scene showed some people being carried away on stretchers while others were seen being loaded onto FDNY buses.

Cuomo said the most serious injury was a broken leg.

“A broken leg is not good, but we’ve been through situations where we’ve had worse,” he said.

Commuters should expect transit delays and road closures near Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue.

Images posted to social media shows a broken window and a damaged door. Others images show passengers crowded on the platform. In addition, people have used the hashtag, “#lirrcrash” on Twitter.