Train driver killed in train accident in New Jersey, 23 passengers injured

A southbound New Jersey River Line Light Rail train crashed into a large section of a tree Monday morning, killing the train driver and injuring about two dozen passengers. The accident occurred in the southern part of the state in a very wooded area near the Delaware River.

The operator killed was Jessica Haley, 41, a single mother of three boys who had worked for 20 years. She was employed by Alstom, a contractor that operates the rail line in the area for New Jersey Transit.

The window of the front car was smashed and the tree landed partially under the train. Of the 42 drivers on board at the time, 23 suffered non-life-threatening injuries. A passenger on the train, Norris Young, who spoke to an NBC affiliate, reported that some of the passengers had open wounds and that he was “still shaken.” Someone lost their life.”

Kevin Corbett, president and CEO of NJ Transit, said: “It was a few minutes after 6 a.m. and still dark, as she came around a curve in that area a tree had fallen right over the rail and smashed into it.” Tree.”

The National Safety Transportation Board will investigate the incident. One question is how part of the tree ended up on the tracks and why there were no safety measures to prevent the fall.

Jessica Haley’s train was the first southbound train that day. Four days before the accident, and just a few miles away on the same route, a train collided with a truck at a crossing, injuring the train driver and four passengers.