Herald Square signal problems lead to another messy subway commute

HERALD SQUARE, Manhattan (WABC) -- It was a frustrating morning commute for straphangers on the B, C, D, E, F and M lines Tuesday because of signal problems at Herald Square.

B train service was suspended across the entire line, and there were no M trains in Queens and most of Manhattan.

Queens-bound trains were coming into Manhattan from Brooklyn, to Essex Street, and were running in Brooklyn.

Service resumed on the B and M lines with extensive residual delays around 11 a.m., but for those who packed the platforms and the trains, it was just another messy day with the MTA.

The problems began around 6:30 a.m. and quickly spiraled downhill, and riders quickly took to social media to express their anger over what seems like never-ending problems on New York City subways.

"This is definitely, I would say, the third most significant delay I've had," one woman said. "But certainly almost every day, delays are par for the course...I feel like now everyone is realizing that this burden is on (Governor Andrew) Cuomo's shoulders, and I just got annoyed. I mean, there are millions of us trying to get to work...it's so inconsiderate, and I feel like everything is slowly coming to a halt."

The Riders Alliance group released a statement attacking the governor.

"A month after Governor Cuomo said he would take responsibility for fixing the subway, he hasn't delivered a plan for how to improve service," it read. "Subway riders aren't going to accept this sort of regular failure. We are fighting back, and we will hold the governor accountable for performance on #CuomosMTA."

The MTA released the following statement regarding the service outage:

"This morning the 1930s-era signal interlocking at 34th Street failed and, as a result, emergency repairs were required which severely impacted service and greatly inconvenienced and frustrated our customers. We apologize for this inconvenience and are working to improve service. The signals and interlocking at this location are currently being upgraded as part of the MTA's capital program and we are focused on accelerating this work. We also plan to look at other methods to improve our signaling system during the MTA Challenge later this month."