In the late 1990s, Boston’s Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) looked forward to introducing cutting-edge, low-floored light rail cars. The order was for 100 cars, worth $222m, entirely custom-built and leagues beyond the troubled, 30-year-old Boeing cars they would partially replace.

By December 2003, problems fuelled a crisis so dire it refused further shipments. There were 40 in service. The rest remained in limbo for a year.