From its creation in 1937, the Budget Department was attached to the Secrétariat général. General Order no. 2 of 1 January 1938 set out its remit: it was thus « responsible for preparing the annual budgets, carrying out their quarterly revision, and monitoring income and expenditure in order to flag risks of imbalance ». It was also responsible for « monitoring […] the commitment of expenditure under the various budgets », for « checking […] the allocation of all expenditure » and for « verifying the assets […] of the various establishments ».
In 1939, its activities were organised around three areas: the operating budget, the establishment budget, and audits and investigations. In 1941, the department underwent a slight reform, reorganising into three subdivisions: General Affairs, Operations and Establishment.

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Records can be identified relating to establishment and operating budgets, establishment investment projects, establishment expenditure and operating results.
Also worth noting is the presence of a number of documents, often produced by the Central Personnel Department, on staffing levels. They provide interesting material from a statistical or sociological point of view during this difficult period for the company.
It is also worth recalling that these budget archives are the earliest held by SNCF, then a very young state-owned company.