This paper aims to provide an analytical understanding of the practical problem to implement public policy in transport infrastructure in Brazil: the unfinished construction of the Transnordestina Railway. The implementation of the work cannot be considered a standard public policy, but it is rather the concretization of crony capitalism, where state and private interests collude. We present the background of entrepreneurship from its origins until the impasses, which have resulted in delays and constant budget increases from the perspective of cognitive theories of public policies, political science and positive political economics. We also identify and describe the networks of conflicts, actors, interests, institutions and referentials involved in such policy. We claim that, on the viewpoint of public intervention, the Transnordestina is a great political failure with the inefficient use of scarce resources.
