Cars from a Metro-North passenger train are scattered after the derailment in the Bronx. Picture: Edwin Valero/AP Source:AP
A PASSENGER train has derailed just yards from the water's edge in New York City killing four people and injuring a further 63.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo confirmed the death toll after the Metro-North passenger train came off the tracks at 7.20am (11.20pm AEDT) on Sunday near the Spuyten Duyvil station.
Speaking at the scene of the crash in the Bronx Gov Cuomo said authorities believed everyone at the site had been accounted for and that the National Transportation Safety Board is en route. He said the train driver was among the injured.
Footage from the crash site showed eight train cars, six of which had derailed.
CNN reported a police source saying that at least two of the dead appeared to have been ejected from the train during the early morning crash.
While no cause has been given for the crash the driver told investigators he tried to engage the train's brakes, but it didn't slow down, a law enforcement official on the scene told CNN.
Rescuers gather at the scene. Picture: Craig Ruttle/AP
One passenger, Frank Tatulli, told WABC-TV that he rides this same train every Sunday morning and that the train appeared to be going "a lot faster" than usual as it approached the tricky curve coming into Spuyten Duyvil station.
Passenger 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.
Edwin Valero was in an apartment building above the accident scene when the train derailed. He says none of the cars went into the water where the Harlem River meets the Hudson, but at least one ended up a few feet from the edge.
Mr Valero said he didn't realize the train had turned on its side until he saw a firefighter walking on the window. The fire department said 130 firefighters were on the scene.
Injured people are tended to by first responders near the site. Picture: Craig Ruttle/AP
The New York Post reported that a freight train hauling garbage derailed in about the same spot in July.
The paper, which posted Youtube footage of the rescue effort, reported neighbourhood resident Brendan Conley saying he was woken up by a loud boom.
Mr Conley, 22, told The Post: “I came to the window and saw people walking across the tracks. Smoke was coming out of the second car that rolled over. I yelled for my mom to call the fire department. I stood there and saw 40 or 50 people come climbing out of the train on their own.”
A woman at the scene, Rebecca Schwartz, says numerous emergency vehicles have responded.
Jessica Cunnington, a reporter for local network News 12, said on Twitter that several people were injured on stretchers. She also posted a picture from the scene showing emergency responders on top of one of the stricken carriages.
Some reports say that at least two of those killed were ejected from the train during the crash. Picture: Edwin Valero/AP
The accident happened on the Sunday following Thanksgiving, which is traditionally a popular traveling day in the US with many families returning home from family visits.
The train was the 5.54am out of Poughkeepsie, a Hudson River town to the north of New York City, and was due to arrive at New York's Grand Central Station at 7.43am.
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