Three people were killed and more than 100 injured, some critically, when a New Jersey Transit train derailed and plowed through Hoboken station in New Jersey during the morning rush hour on Thursday (September 29), U.S. media and a transit official said.

Citing medical officials, U.S. media reports said three people were killed. Well over 100 people were hurt, many of them critically, New Jersey Transit spokeswoman Jennifer Nelson told reporters at the scene.

Dramatic images posted by commuters showed a train carriage that appeared to have smashed right through the station concourse, collapsing a section of the roof, scattering debris and wreckage and causing devastation.

ABC News said on its website that New Jersey Transit was reporting many passengers were trapped. Fox News said the engineer had to be extricated from the front car.

Hoboken lies on the west bank of the Hudson River across from New York City. Its station, one of the busiest in the metropolitan area, is used by many commuters traveling into Manhattan from New Jersey and further afield.