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 Six people on the train died, as well as the driver of a Jeep
Cherokee that got stuck on the tracks and was hit at about 6:30 p.m.
(2330 GMT) on Tuesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told a news
conference.
"This is a truly ugly and brutal sight," he told reporters after
visiting the scene in Valhalla, some 20 miles (32 km) north of New
York City. "The third rail of the track came up from the explosion
and went right through the (rail) car, it's a devastatingly ugly
situation."
"It's actually amazing that not more people were hurt on that
train," Cuomo added.
Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino told reporters 12 people
were injured, 10 of them seriously. The Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (MTA) said the crash was the deadliest accident for
Metro-North, the second largest commuter railroad in the United
States.
The crash also meant that thousands of commuters faced a snarled
journey to work on Wednesday morning.
MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said roughly 45,000 riders take the
Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line on an average weekday, about
14,000 of whom board north of where the crash occurred and would be
directly affected.
 Parts of the line would stay closed on Wednesday, according to the
MTA, which was arranging for shuttle buses to fill the gap and
warned of crowding and delays.
The third rail, which carries 750 volts of direct current, tore
through the floor of the first car of the train, charring the
carriage and sending billows of smoke into the air. Damage to the
other seven cars was minimal.
Hundreds of passengers from the eight-car train were taken to a
rock-climbing gym for shelter, authorities said.
Jared Woodard, an employee of BGC Financial in New York, who was on
the train traveling home to Chappaqua, described the frightening
scenes as the train was evacuated.
"The smoke was orange coming off the train, it was still on fire at
that point. The front car was billowing heavy smoke out of the
windows and doors," Woodard said.
Media reports said the driver of the car got out briefly to try to
push it off the tracks, then got back in before it was hit by the
train.
Some 650 passengers regularly take the train, which carries
commuters through affluent New York City suburbs such as Westchester
County, one of the richest in the United States.
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Westchester is home to many bankers, doctors and corporate lawyers,
boasts a median household income of roughly $82,000, and houses the
headquarters of major companies, including IBM <IBM.N> and PepsiCo
Inc <PEP.N>.
Tuesday's crash is the latest in a string of accidents involving
Metro-North trains in recent years, which have drawn strong
criticism.
One derailed near the northern edge of New York City on Dec. 1,
2013, killing four people and injuring 70. It was traveling nearly
three times the speed limit for the section of track where it
crashed, investigators said.
Astorino made a distinction between that crash, which was the result
of a train employee error, and Tuesday's accident. But he said the
latest incident was still under investigation.
In May 2013, two Metro-North passenger trains collided between
Fairfield and Bridgeport, Connecticut, injuring more than 70 people
and halting services.
The National Transportation Safety Board released a report late last
year that identified common safety issues with the railroad
following probes of those accidents and three others between May
2013 and March 2014.
The safety board said it was sending investigators to the scene of
Tuesday's crash.
(Additional reporting by Mike Segar in Mount Pleasant, Jonathan
Allen and Chris Kaufman in New York City; Writing by Fiona Ortiz and
Curtis Skinner; Editing by Dominic Evans)
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