Bombardier will deliver the final of 204 streetcars ordered by the TTC next week, missing the deadline for the final fulfillment of the much-delayed order by just a few days.

In 2009 the city awarded Bombardier with a $1.2 billion contract to provide it with its new fleet of low-floor streetcars but for years the company fell behind on its delivery schedule, prompting the TTC to launch a $50 million lawsuit in 2015.

By the end of 2017 Bombardier had fallen even further behind; having only delivered 65 of the 147 streetcars it was supposed to have delivered by that point.

That in turn caused some city officials to express concerns over whether the rest of the streetcars could be delivered by the end of 2019 but for its part Bombardier always contended that it would meet the final deadline.

As part of those efforts, the company implemented a seven-day work week at its plant in Thunder Bay and began flying cabs from Vienna rather than shipping them at a cost of $750,000 per flight.

Bombardier also came to an agreement with the city on a revised delivery schedule and was able to slowly ramp up production.

In a message posted to Twitter on Monday, the company confirmed that the final streetcar included in the $1-billion order will be completed today and sent to the TTC next week.

The delivery marks the completion of a remarkable turnaround that at times seemed unlikely.

After all it was only 18 months ago that top Bombardier officials attended a meeting of the TTC board to personally apologize for “a welding defect” that was to blame for the recall of ttwo-thirds of the vehicles that had been delivered by that point.

“In 2018, we made a commitment to the #TTC and the people of #Toronto. Our #ThunderBay team is happy to confirm: car203 will be ready to ship this week & #car204 will be completed tomorrow and shipped next week after testing and customer inspection,” the tweet from Bombardier reads.

In anticipation of the completion of the order, the city decommissioned its remaining Canadian Light Rail Vehicle (CLRV) streetcars over the weekend.