Construction Snarls Queens-Manhattan Trains In Morning Rush

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Problems with MTA construction on the Queensboro Bridge snarled commutes between Queens and Manhattan during the morning rush on Tuesday.

N and W trains in both directions between Queensboro Plaza station and 59th Street-Lexington Avenue stopped running just after 7 a.m. The halt came after an hour of "service changes" on the subway lines after a train used during construction between the two stations had mechanical problems, the MTA said.

Southbound R trains were running on the F line from 36th Street in Queens to 57th Street-Seventh Avenue and shuttle trains were available on the N line between Queensboro Plaza and Ditmars Blvd.

But the added service didn't stop stations from filling up with unhappy straphangers waiting to get to work.

Some riders told the MTA on Twitter that the suspended service made their commute into Manhattan two hours long. Others said they were forced to take a cab between the boroughs.

A few straphangers complained that there were no announcements made about the problems at their station.

The Queens-Manhattan problems also caused delays throughout Manhattan as transit officials tried to get the disabled construction train off the tracks.

The R and W trains were delayed and N and Q trains were running on the local track between the 57th Street-Seventh Avenue station and Canal Street stations so that the work train could move down the express tracks, the MTA said around 8 a.m.