New York train derailment injures more than 100 commuters

Emergency responders work near a train that sits derailed near the community of New Hyde Park on Long Island in New York, US, October 9, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

NEW YORK - A New York City train derailed after ramming into a bumper at a downtown Brooklyn terminal during Wednesday's morning rush hour, injuring more than 100 commuters in the metropolitan area's second major rail accident since late September.

Emergency crews swarmed Atlantic Terminal after the Long Island Railroad train went off the tracks inside the busy transportation hub at about 8:30 a.m. local time, the New York City Fire Department said.

While none of the injuries were life-threatening, at least 11 people were sent to the hospital, Deputy Assistant Chief Dan Donoghue said at a briefing at the crash site.

The train, arriving from the Queens neighborhood of Far Rockaway, failed to stop on time and struck a bumping block at a fairly low rate of speed, which caused it to derail, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said at the briefing.

About 103 people were injured in the accident, the fire department said in a Twitter message. The front two cars of the six-carriage train were severely damaged.

The engineer was probably responsible for failing to stop the train before it hit the bumper, said Tom Prendergast, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the agency that runs the LIRR.

"At that speed, it's pretty much the locomotive engineer's responsibility to stop the train," Prendergast said as he stood beside Cuomo at the briefing.