LIRR Derailment Update: 33 Hurt, 4 Seriously

Thirty-three people were injured, four seriously, in Saturday night's Long Island Rail Road derailment in Garden City, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a press briefing Sunday morning.

Of those injured, 26 were passengers and seven were LIRR employees, he said.

The goal Sunday is to remove the train from the scene and repair the tracks.

"The focus is to get up and running for tomorrow morning's commute," Cuomo said. "We're bringing in other teams to help."

Three cars of the 12-car train, which was carrying about 600 passengers, derailed at 9:10 p.m., about a half mile east of the New Hyde Park station after it struck a work train that is used for track maintenance.

The passenger train and the work train were both moving eastbound at the time of the crash, which MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast said.

"For some reason, in this particular case, the piece of work equipment – the yellow piece of work equipment – came over into the clearance for the revenue service track at the time," he said. "That's what we need to investigate: why did that happen?"

LIRR service is currently suspended between Jamaica and Hicksville on the Port Jefferson and Ronkonkoma branches. Service is also suspended on the Oyster Bay branch. Alternate train service and limited bus service is being provided. Find the latest on service changes here.

Photos via Gov. Andrew Cuomo