Dozens slightly injured in accident at Paris train station

Railway officials said that a suburban commuter train slammed into a buffer at the end of the tracks at Paris'sGare de l'Est train station Thursday slightly injured dozens.

The train, which originated in the eastern Paris suburb of Chateau-Thierry, hit the buffer at about 10 kph (6 mph), an SNCF railway official said. The official declined to give his name, according to SNCF policy.

Firefighters were dispatched to Gare de l'Est, a major transport hub in the east of the French capital with connections to Germany and other European points, and station authorities put an emergency response plan into effect.

Fifty-eight people were hospitalized as a precaution, the official said. The most serious injury was a broken nose.

It was not immediately clear how many passengers were on the train at the time, but the official said such commuter trains can carry up to 1,000 people. He said that because the incident took place during the morning rush hour, the number of passengers would likely have been high.

The train's engineer was being held for questioning, judicial officials said. The cause of the incident was not immediately clear.