New York train crash kills seven

Officials say a New York train carrying about 800 people hit a Jeep Cherokee about 32 km from New York on Tuesday evening.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that the female driver of the vehicle was killed in the accident, and six passengers on the train were also killed.

The commuter train had left Grand Central Station in New York City and it was making its way to south-east New York State, when it arrived at the crossing where the gates had come down on top of the vehicle.

The driver reportedly got out to look at the damage, and then got back into the car to drive forward before it was hit by the train which pushed the vehicle more than 120m. It is as yet unclear why the vehicle stalled on the tracks.

Shortly after the crash, the vehicle and the front carriage of the train caught fire. As a result of the crash the electrified third rail of the track came through the front carriage of the train, with witnesses of the crash saying that given the damage done it was amazing not more people were injured.

Passengers had to escape from the rear of the train and parts of the railroad remain closed on Wednesday.

Metro-North is the second-busiest railroad in the US, serving about 280,000 passengers a day in New York and Connecticut.

Last year, the National Transportation Safety Board issued rulings on five accidents that occurred on the railroad in 2013 and 2014, criticising Metro-North while also finding conditions had improved.