Dozens of people were injured on Friday when a commuter train ploughed into the buffers of a busy station in Barcelona.

It happened at 07:15, during the morning rush hour, at Francia station in the centre of the northeastern Spanish city.

Reports say the regional train simply failed to brake. It is not known why and an investigation is underway.

After conflicting numbers for those injured, authorities put the figure at 54, including the driver.

Over 50 people were injured this morning- one seriously- in a train crash at a station in Barcelona, Spain: pic.twitter.com/5ZE19OELx5— NBC News (@NBCNews) 28 juillet 2017

One person was seriously hurt. More than 30 are described as lightly injured.

Many were treated on the platform, with local roads blocked to traffic to allow emergency services to get through.

The train had travelled from the village of Sant Vicenc de Calders, around 70 kilometres away, in the province of Tarragona.

One passenger in the first carriage said that a lot of people, standing on the packed train, bumped into each other and fell to the ground at the moment of impact which she described as like an earthquake.

Our correspondent in the Catalan capital, Cristina Giner, said:

“Barcelona city centre woke up to chaos with this serious train accident. Most of the passengers were commuters coming here for a day’s work.”

Commuter train crash in Barcelona station injures 48 https://t.co/q4qbwvlPQt pic.twitter.com/jhePNoCjp9— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) 28 juillet 2017

with Reuters