The shooting happened during the evening commute at a station in the Bronx, police said.

The man who died was aged 34.

A 14-year-old girl and 15-year-old boy were among the wounded, along with three adults aged 28, 29 and 71.

A Fire Department spokesperson described four of the five injuries as serious.

"We don't believe this was a random shooting. We do not believe that this was an individual indiscriminately firing into a train or a train station," the NYPD's chief of transit Michael Kemper said at a news conference.

"This incident today occurred as a result of two groups that started fighting while on a train."

He said the gunfire erupted when the train pulled into the station, striking people on the platform.

"The doors opened up and at least one of the individuals in that group, or in the two groups, took out a gun and fired shots," he said.

"People started running off the train onto the platform and more shots were fired on the platform."

Police have launched a manhunt for at least one shooter, who fled the scene.

"The train was coming and there were two kids yelling," witness Efrain Feliciano, 61, told the Daily News. "There were at least six shots."

"I saw sparkles as the bullets hit the wall," Mr Feliciano said. "A woman was holding a child screaming."

Footage from television news helicopters showed a subway train stopped at the station and orange evidence cones on the elevated platform at the station.

New York City crime has fallen since COVID pandemic

Fear of violence on the New York City subway system spiked after several incidents in recent years, but crime in the city has been plummeting since a surge at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of people shot in the city fell 39% last year compared to 2022, while killings on the subway also fell from 10 to five.