on tunnels, thereby demonstrating what would prove to be another of his most distinctive traits: his remarkable ability to distill his professional experiences and perspectives into various essays. It is no surprise, then, that his personal library eventually grew to include thousands of monographs.

His remarkable success in this area enabled him to move from head of construction to deputy director of the company, thus beginning a new phase in his career as an executive. During the early years of this new role, he participated in the negotiations for MZA’s acquisition of TBF, which, among other things, led to his appointment as managing director of MZA’s Catalan Network—the name the company adopted following the merger.

He oversaw the renovation of Barcelona’s train stations and the construction of the double-track line between Barcelona, Mataró, and Molins de Rei, but his most notable contribution came at the Railway Conference, convened in 1905 by the government with the aim of persuading all affected parties to find a definitive solution to the problem of transportation fares. Maristany took up the defense of the railway companies, drafting—with his characteristic rigor—specific responses to each of the papers presented by the other participating institutions, although all of this constituted a comprehensive, liberal approach to understanding railway operations. He published all this work under the title The 1905 Railway Conference: Economic Studies on the Commercial Operation of Spanish Railways. It is a six-volume anthology whose scope makes it the most important comprehensive study ever conducted on the commercial policy of Spanish railway companies—particularly MZA and Norte—and on the immediate international context, particularly that of France.

That same year, Maristany published *Impressions of a Trip Through the United States*, in which he recounted the study trip he had taken to that country to learn about its railroads. In doing so, he demonstrated not only that he was thoroughly versed in what was happening outside Spain, but also that he had adopted the prevailing ideas there regarding how to organize and manage a railroad company. Specifically, he embraced the philosophy of engineer Poor, who believed that efficiency in railway management lay in establishing an internal division of labor, ensuring adequate communication to systematically create a flow of information regarding all tasks carried out on the various lines, and securing the necessary data to conduct a continuous analysis of the work performed. And, of course, Maristany incorporated all of this doctrine into his management of MZA, making statistics and accounting the cornerstones of executive decision-making, which has, in addition, left behind a wealth of information for studying MZA.

His outstanding performance and the process of bringing Spanish personnel into the management bodies of the railway companies enabled Maristany to reach the pinnacle of his professional career when he was appointed general manager of MZA in 1908, replacing Nathan Süss, which entailed becoming a member of the board of directors and the company’s management bodies. Thus, he became the apex of the network management organizational chart, assisted by the deputy director, the assistant directors, and each of the heads of the departments into which operations were organized.

The crisis triggered in the Spanish railways by World War I—despite the country’s neutrality—led to what became known as the “Railway Problem,” a euphemism for the scrutiny the concession system would face from that point on. And it was, once again, Maristany who would lead the defense of the concessionaires before public opinion and the various governments. He did so by attempting to save the concession system, a goal he failed to achieve, despite deploying all his talent and knowledge, since the 1924 Railway Statute allowed for public intervention in the concessionaires, which he did not accept in any way.    

The “social question” was a separate issue where Maristany, a staunch supporter of dogmatic liberalism, failed to grasp that labor relations could no longer be sustained by refusing to recognize workers’ representatives and by employing selective repression. While it is true that he attempted to modify this approach to some extent and adapted to the new circumstances with a degree of pragmatism.

The final years of his tenure were particularly challenging, as the economic crisis of the 1930s, competition from the horse-drawn carriage, the change in political regime, and social upheaval placed the railroad companies in an extremely difficult situation. Maristany resigned as CEO of MZA in September 1934 due to his advanced age (79) and poor health, after having dedicated more than half a century to the railways. He was a magnificent advocate for the interests of his shareholders and bondholders. But he was also a conscientious, highly skilled manager with a deep analytical mind, who knew how to surround himself with good teams and established the most appropriate governance guidelines for corporate interests. It was customary for him to record meticulous notes from his fieldwork in notebooks, which he later used to compile books and forms that might be useful to his subordinates. He lived and had his office at Atocha Station itself, and he earned the recognition of his employees, as more than twenty-three thousand signed a letter requesting that Alfonso XIII grant him the aforementioned title of Marquis of Argentera.       

As the *Gaceta de los Caminos de Hierro* noted, “There are few instances in life when one chooses a profession for which one possesses the ideal qualifications.” Such was the case with Eduardo Maristany, who passed away on May 5, 1941, the same year that the creation of Renfe brought an end to the era of private Spanish railways, a cause he dedicated his entire life to defending. The only reference we have found in the national press is a brief and laconic obituary published by ABC in its morning edition of May 6, which, without a doubt, fell far short of doing him the honor he deserved.