[8] In January 1902, one of the locomotives ordered by the company from Fives-Lille to provide fast services had already arrived and was being assembled that month in the workshops in Lisbon.

[9] The 1901 report, presented that same month, stated that the company's financial situation was quite favourable, mainly due to the fall in coal prices.

[2] After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, there was a sharp rise in coal prices, which led the company to reduce services and use firewood to power its locomotives, which caused several problems with the maintenance of rolling stock.

That year was also marked by several general strikes by railway workers, with serious acts of sabotage taking place[11] which led to the need to order an army intervention.

[3] On the other hand, social problems also continued, aggravated by new measures such as the introduction of the 8-hour working day, which led to various conflicts and strikes, such as the closure of the workshops at the Entroncamento in 1922, which had a detrimental effect on motor equipment.

[16] In 1966, new articles of association were published for the company and electrification between Lisbon and Porto was completed; in 1968, a contract was signed with a consortium of SOMAFEL and Somapre for the total renovation of the track.

[17] This situation was worsened by the oil crisis of 1973 and 1979, and by the new priorities of the democratic regime, which substantially reduced support for the company, with which it was only possible to carry out some track construction and maintenance work, such as the installation of the railway accesses to the Sines Industrial Complex, and to continue with the programme to replace steam engine equipment, which had begun around 30 years earlier.