MTA chief promises review of subway delays

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - Another day and another set of delays for the New York City subways. The MTA has been having a rough time being on time.

The problem on Wednesday was a rail defect at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Station in Brooklyn. That caused delays on the Queens-bound A train and cancellations on the C line.

"Safety has been and always will be our top priority and during track inspections, crews uncovered a rail defect that was addressed as train traffic continued to move through the area," the MTA said in a statement.

As MTA crews worked to fix the issue, MTA Interim Executive Director Veronique Hakim apologized to straphangers at a board meeting for the number of recent delays including during rush hour.

"Right now what we need to do is up our own forensics on these delays and figure out how to avoid them and when they occur how to react more quickly and how to deal more effectively with them," Hakim said.

She promised to conduct a top-to-bottom review of how these delays are handled.

"That requires a review not just of the underlying causes of the delay, but what our response is and how we hold people accountable to those responses," she said. "And what we can do to improve communication with our customers while they are being impacted by a delay."

Hakim said that the city's subway system can't be fixed overnight but how the MTA responds to these events can be improved.