A Metro-North passenger train derailed on a curved section of track in the Bronx on Sunday morning, killing four people and injuring 63 as it came to rest just inches from the water, authorities said. 
 
 Cars from a Metro-North passenger train are scattered after the train derailed in the Bronx neighborhood of New York, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. The Fire Department of New York says there are "multiple injuries"... (Associated Press) 
 
 Cars from a Metro-North passenger train are scattered after the train derailed in the Bronx neighborhood of New York, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. The Fire Department of New York says there are "multiple injuries"... (Associated Press) 
 
 A New York Fire Department boat approaches the scene of a Metro-North passenger train in the Bronx borough of New York Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. The train derailed on a curved section of track early Sunday... (Associated Press) 
 
 First responders gather around the derailment of a Metro North passenger train in the Bronx borough of New York Dec. 1, 2013 The Fire Department of New York says there are "multiple injuries" in the... (Associated Press) 
 
 Passenger cars are on their side after a Metro-North train derailed in the Bronx on Sunday morning, Dec. 1, 2013 causing "multiple injuries," authorities said. Metropolitan Transportation Authority police... (Associated Press) 
 
 First responders gather at the derailment of a Metro North passenger train in the Bronx borough of New York Dec. 1, 2013 The Fire Department of New York says there are "multiple injuries" in the train... (Associated Press) 
 
 Cars from a Metro-North passenger train are scattered after the train derailed in the Bronx neighborhood of New York, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. The Fire Department of New York says there are "multiple injuries"... (Associated Press) 
 
 First responders gather around the derailment of a Metro North passenger train in the Bronx borough of New York Dec. 1, 2013 The Fire Department of New York says there are "multiple injuries" in the... (Associated Press) 
 
 Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the deaths at a news conference at the site of the crash near the Spuyten Duyvil station. He said authorities believe everyone at the site has been accounted for and that the National Transportation Safety Board is en route. 
 
 Three of the dead were found outside the train, and one was found inside, authorities said. Their families haven't yet been notified. 
 
 Eleven people are believed to be in critical condition, authorities said. The train operator was among the dozens injured, Cuomo said. 
 
 Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said the big curve where the derailment occurred is in a slow speed area. The black box should be able to tell how fast the train was traveling, Anders said. 
 
 The derailment of the southbound Hudson Line train was reported at about 7:20 a.m., authorities said. The train left Poughkeepsie at 5:54 a.m. and was due to arrive at 7:43 a.m. at Grand Central Terminal. 
 
 Four or five cars on the seven-car train derailed about 100 yards north of the station, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said in a news release. But none of the cars entered the Hudson or Harlem rivers, which are adjacent, the MTA said. 
 
 The train appeared to be going "a lot faster" than usual as it approached the curve coming into the station, passenger Frank Tatulli told WABC-TV. 
 
 MTA Chairman Thomas F. Prendergast was asked at the news conference if speed was something authorities planned to investigate. 
 
 "That'd be one of the factors," he said, adding that the focus right now was on the passengers who were injured. 
 
 Joel Zaritsky told The Associated Press he was on his way to New York City for a dental convention. 
 
 "I was asleep and I woke up when the car started rolling several times. Then I saw the gravel coming at me, and I heard people screaming. There was smoke everywhere and debris. People were thrown to the other side of the train," he said, holding his bloody right hand. 
 
 Passengers were taken off the derailed train, with dozens of them bloodied and scratched, holding ice packs to their heads. 
 
 The Fire Department of New York said 130 firefighters had responded to the derailment. 
 
 The crash was reported by the engineer, and it wasn't clear if any crew members were among the injured, the MTA said. 
 
 Edwin Valero was in an apartment building above the accident scene when the train derailed. He said none of the cars entered the water, but at least one ended up a few feet from the edge. 
 
 At first, he said, he didn't notice that the train had flipped over. 
 
 "I didn't realize it had been turned over until I saw a firefighter walking on the window," he said. 
 
 Amtrak Empire service was halted between New York City and Albany after the derailment. Amtrak said its Northeast Corridor service between Boston and Washington was unaffected. 
 
 Prendergast said that when the NTSB gives them the go-ahead, they will begin efforts to restore service. 
 
 Sunday's accident is the second passenger train derailment in six months for the rail service and presents Metro-North with another problem in a year plagued by safety issues. 
 
 On May 17, an eastbound train derailed in Bridgeport, Conn., and was struck by a westbound train. The crash injured 73 passengers, two engineers and a conductor. Eleven days later, track foreman Robert Luden was struck and killed by a train in West Haven, Conn. 
 
 Earlier this month, Metro-North's chief engineer, Robert Puciloski, told members of the NTSB investigating the May derailment and Ludent's death that the railroad is "behind in several areas," including a five-year schedule of cyclical maintenance that had not been conducted in the area of the Bridgeport derailment since 2005. 
 
 The NTSB issued an urgent recommendation to Metro-North that it use "redundant protection" such as a procedure known as "shunting" in which crews attach a device to the rail in a work zone alerting the dispatcher to inform approaching trains to stop. ||||| Story highlights Derailment victim "did what was necessary" to help his family, councilman says 
 
 Locomotive was pushing cars at the time of the crash, NTSB says 
 
 Gov. Andrew Cuomo discounts curve's role in the crash 
 
 Investigators have recovered a recorder from the locomotive and another car, NTSB says 
 
 A commuter train derailed in a curve in the New York borough of the Bronx on Sunday, killing four people and leaving dozens hurt, investigators said. 
 
 All seven passenger cars and the locomotive jumped the tracks near the Spuyten Duyvil station, about 10 miles north of Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal, the National Transportation Safety Board reported. Three of the dead were thrown out of the train as it "came off the track and was twisting and turning," New York Fire Department Chief Edward Kilduff told reporters. 
 
 Surviving passenger Amanda Swanson told CNN the windows of the coaches broke out, and "the gravel came flying up in our faces." 
 
 "I really didn't know if I would survive," said Swanson, who put her bag in front of her face to block the rubble. "The train felt like it was on its side and dragging for a long time. ... The whole thing felt like slow motion." 
 
 The train was en route to Grand Central from Poughkeepsie, 74 miles up the Hudson River, when it derailed about 7:20 a.m., NTSB member Earl Weener said Sunday. At least 67 people were injured, said Joe Bruno, New York's commissioner of emergency management, and 11 remained in critical condition Sunday evening, Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters. 
 
 The diesel locomotive was pushing passenger cars through a 30-mph curve north of the station at the time of the crash, Weener said. He said that configuration is one of many things investigators will be examining as they try to determine the cause of the wreck. 
 
 Investigators have recovered an event recorder from the locomotive and another car but haven't yet examined them, Weener said. 
 
 "Our mission is to understand not just what happened, but why it happened, with the intent of preventing it from ever happening again," he said. 
 
 About 150 people were on the train when it derailed, said Laureen Coyne, director of risk management for New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority, which includes the Metro-North railroad. One car came to rest just feet away from the Harlem River. 
 
 "I heard this horrible, whooshing sound. ... It was very disturbing, very loud," said Hank Goldman, who lives near the tracks. "I jumped out of bed and looked out the window and I saw a light-colored object lying down. I thought it was the roadway to the train. Then I got my binoculars, and I couldn't believe my eyes, that the train had jumped the tracks right here." 
 
 New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority identified the dead as Donna L. Smith, 54, of Newburgh, New York; James G. Lovell, 58, of Cold Spring, New York; James M. Ferrari, 59, of Montrose, New York; and So Kisook Ahn, 35, of Queens, New York. 
 
 Lovell did freelance audio and was headed into New York to work Sunday morning, said Dave Merandy, a town council member in the Hudson Valley community of Philipstown. 
 
 "He loved his family and did what was necessary to keep things afloat with his family. He was a great man," said Merandy. 
 
 Lovell's wife, Nancy Montgomery, sits on Philipstown's council, and Merandy and Lovell were high school classmates, Merandy said. He leaves behind three sons and a daughter from a previous marriage. 
 
 "We're just shocked. Completely shocked," Merandy said. 
 
 The Metro-North Hudson Line had a ridership of 15.9 million last year, with hundreds of people riding the packed trains during weekday rush hour, officials said. 
 
 The train operator -- who is among the injured -- told investigators he applied brakes to the train, but it didn't slow down, a law enforcement official on the scene and familiar with the investigation said. 
 
 "That will be a key point of concern, whether this train was moving too quickly," Bruno said. 
 
 A freight train derailed in the same curve in July, damaging about 1,500 feet of track, the MTA reported at the time. Weener said the NTSB would look into whether there was any connection between that derailment and Sunday's crash, but both he and Cuomo discounted the possibility. 
 
 "The curve has been here for many, many years, right, and trains take the curve every day, 365 days a year ... We've always had this configuration. We didn't have accidents," Cuomo said. "So there has to be another factor, and that's what we want to learn from the NTSB." 
 
 Investigators will look at the condition of the track, the signal system, crew performance and other factors. They'll also search for data and video recordings that may have captured details tied to the derailment, NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman said. 
 
 "We've got a lot of work to do," she said. "We don't have a lot of daylight hours to do it, but we're going to do as much as we can." 
 
 Passenger: Train stopped with a thud 
 
 The incident quickly sparked chatter on Twitter and drew a crowd of onlookers to the scene. Passenger Frank Tatulli told WABC he thought the train was traveling "a lot faster" than usual. 
 
 He escaped a derailed car on his own and had head and neck injuries, he said. Other passengers were still on the train, he told WABC. 
 
 Another survivor told WABC that she climbed out of a train car that had overturned. Nearby, she said, she heard injured victims moaning and asking for help. 
 
 "I almost feel guilty," she said. "I was just in a really safe spot on the train, just the way it fell." 
 
 Swanson told CNN the train car she was in came to a stop with a thud. 
 
 "I just closed my eyes and kind of hoped to God that I was going to be able to call my mom with decent news," Swanson said. She got off the train with her cell phone in hand: "The screen was shattered, but it still worked," she said. 
 
 Among those hurt, one suffered a spinal cord injury that could leave him paralyzed from the neck down, said Dr. David Listman, director of the emergency department at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx. 
 
 New York-Presbyterian Hospital said it was treating 17 patients, four of whom were in critical condition. 
 
 Federal authorities are also investigating another Metro-North incident in which two passenger trains crashed during rush hour in Connecticut in May. 
 
 Though no connection between the incidents has been established, one state lawmaker said Sunday that the derailments are a sign that federal investigators should examine track conditions throughout the region. 
 
 "It is important that the entire regional track infrastructure be examined to identify any chronic issues that have led to past derailments or could lead to future derailments in order to ensure the safety of the millions of people who use the trains every single day," New York State Sen. Charles J. Fuschillo Jr. said in a statement. 
 
 Service was suspended Sunday on part of the Hudson Line and won't be resumed until the NTSB finishes documenting the scene and returns the track to the MTA for repairs, Cuomo said. 
 
 "I think it's fair to say tomorrow, people who use this line should plan on a long commute or plan on using the Harlem Line," Cuomo said. 
 
 Amtrak trains were suspended between New York and Albany for hours after the derailment. On Sunday afternoon officials said service would resume with restricted speeds in the area. "Some delays can be expected," Amtrak said. ||||| Authorities say three train operators were killed when their freight train derailed in southern New Mexico's Grant County and plunged down a ravine. 
 
 State Police Sgt. Oscar Sosa says the three men were inside the locomotive when the crash occurred Saturday. 
 
 Sosa tells the Las Cruces Sun-News that the locomotive was pulling eight cars near Bayard _ about 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of Las Cruces _ when it went off the tracks and down a 40- to 50-foot (12- to 15-meter) ravine. The cars derailed moments later. 
 
 The train was operated by Southwestern Railroad and was carrying a form of iron that is not hazardous, according to operations manager for railroad Chris Grimes. 
 
 The paper says the cause of the accident hadn't been determined. 
 
 A state police spokesman did not immediately respond to Associated Press calls for additional comment. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Information from: Las Cruces Sun-News, http://www.lcsun-news.com
– At least four people are dead and 63 hurt after a Metro-North passenger train derailed on a curved section of track in the Bronx this morning, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says, according to the AP. Metropolitan Transportation Authority police say the train derailed near the Spuyten Duyvil station in a "slow speed area," and one passenger says it seemed to be traveling "a lot faster" than usual as it approached the sharp curve. The train operator, who was injured, told investigators he tried to apply the brakes but the train wouldn't slow, CNN reports. Seven of the eight cars derailed just 100 yards from the station, and at least two flipped onto their sides. Three of the dead were thrown from the train, and the fourth was found inside. Police divers were searching for victims in the Harlem River, feet away from one of the cars, as cadaver dogs searched through the wreckage, but police think all the passengers have now been accounted for. The southbound Hudson Line train had left Poughkeepsie at 5:54am and was scheduled to arrive at Grand Central Terminal at 7:43am. NTSB investigators are headed to the scene. (A freight train also derailed in New Mexico yesterday, killing its three operators when it plunged down a ravine.)