The CFOA serviced major cities such as Istanbul, İzmit, Adapazarı, Bilecik, Eskişehir, Ankara, Kütahya and Konya.

The Ottoman Government, under the reign of Sultan Abdulaziz, started building a 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge on the Asian side of Istanbul, from Haydarpaşa to Pendik in 1871.

A 52.1 km (32.4 mi) 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge extension of the railway was built to Adapazarı the same year.

The syndicate still could not pull up the money needed to complete the line, so the company withdrew.

In 1893 the Ottoman government granted the CFOA with a concession to build a line from Eskişehir to Konya.

The CFOA started construction and on November 1, 1899, opened a 3.2 km (2.0 mi) branch line from Arifye to Adapazarı.

It played a vital role carrying war materials to the fronts in Palestine and Mesopotamia, with Germany supplying a large number of locomotives and wagons.

After the end of the war and the Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, the CFOA came under British military control.

After the Greek defeat at Sakarya, they destroyed much of the railway's infrastructure as they retreated back to the coast.

The CFOA was under full Turkish control by September 1923 and the war against Greece ended a month later.

Despite being in control, the Turkish government was not the legal owner of the CFOA due to the company being headquartered in Switzerland, a neutral country in the war.

The CFOA mainly focused on transporting grain from central Anatolia to the ports in Istanbul.

The CFOA also played a big role in the construction of the Baghdad Railway, by transporting goods from Istanbul to Konya to help built the tracks.