Pereira, Hugo S.2021-01-072021-01-072021-060022-5266PURE: 17963230PURE UUID: a9e5858c-b30e-45c8-98f0-cf7953ef53d3Scopus: 85083229774WOS: 000527683900001ORCID: /0000-0002-7706-2686/work/95559539http://hdl.handle.net/10362/109905In the second half of the nineteenth century, Portugal built the main branches of its railway system. In this paper, I will use technical and military reports, parliamentary debates and sundry bibliography to analyse the influence of the different stakeholders. I investigated the expectations, priorities and agendas of engineers, army officers, policymakers and lobbyists in the design of the Portuguese railway network. I argue that historiography about Portuguese railways usually considers the rationale behind their discussion as entirely technological and focuses mainly on their outputs, taking railways for granted, or black-boxed. However, the planification of large transportation systems depends on the sociotechnical context and on hierarchies of power of their time. I will show that experts (mostly engineers) played a decisive role in the planning of the network, but a large part of its design was due to non-technical issues, including political machinations, budgetary constraints and corporative lobbying.265760engblack-boxingPlanningpolicy-makingSaint-SimonianismGeography, Planning and DevelopmentHistoryArts and Humanities (miscellaneous)Transportationjournal article10.1177/0022526620908585https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85083229774