A busy commuter train has crashed at a Buenos Aires station, killing at least 49 commuters and injuring more than 500 others.

The train came in too fast and hit a barrier at the end of the platform at about 20km per hour, smashing the front of the engine and destroying the coaches behind it, Juan Schiavi, Argentina's transportation secretary, said at the Once station on Wednesday.

"It was a very serious accident," Schiavi told a news conference. "Cars piled up on top of each other and one of them went six meters inside another car."

Monica Yanakiev, a journalist at the scene of the train crash, told Al Jazeera, that there were between 30 and 60 people still trapped in the train, with ambulances filling the streets.

"The last report, which has not been confirmed yet, is that a seven-year-old boy apparently died in the crash," she said. "There are three or four hospitals that are crowded with victims" of the accident that occurred during the morning rush hour.

The most damage occurred in the first coach, where passengers make space for bicycles. Survivors told the TeleNoticias television channel that many people were injured by metal and glass.

Passengers said windows exploded as the tops of train cars separated from their floors. The trains are usually packed with people standing between the seats, and many were thrown into each other and to the floor by the force of the crash.
"People started to break windows and get out however they could." one survivor said.

"Then I saw the engine destroyed and the train driver trapped among the steel. There were a lot of people hurt, a lot of kids, elderly."

Driver among injured

Many people with lesser injuries were waiting for attention on the Once station's platforms as helicopters and more than a dozen ambulances took the most seriously injured to nearby hospitals.

The driver was among those taken to hospital, said Ruben Sobrero, union chief on the Sarmiento line, the commuter rail service in the Argentine capital.

Sobrero told local media that reports speculating the crash was caused by the train's inability to stop fast enough due to brake problems could not be verified.

"This machine left the shop yesterday and the brakes worked well," he said. "From what we know, it braked without problems at previous stations. At this point I don't want to speculate about the causes."

The Sarmiento rail line, owned by private company TBA, links the center of Buenos Aires to a densely populated suburb 70 kilometers (44 miles) to the west of the city. It uses rolling stock made in Japan and acquired in the 1960s.

TBA said it did not know the cause of the crash and would bring "all information and videos to the courts."

Argentina has seen five serious train accidents since December 2010. The deadliest of these prior to Wednesday happened last September, when a bus crossed the tracks in front of an oncoming train, killing 11 people.

The country's government has called for two days of mourning and suspended carnival celebrations, including a massive parade planned in Buenos Aires on Friday.

PHOTO CAPTION

The site of a train crash at Once station in Buenos Aires on February 22, 2012.

Al-Jazeera