Around the turn of the millennium, there was an urgent need for new multiple units on the Portuguese railways, since the existing vehicles were several decades old and, above all, contributed to a bad image. On the other hand, there was a poor financial situation, which made it impossible to procure a sufficient number of completely new vehicles. When analyzing the existing multiple units, it was noticeable that the 22 surviving examples of the series 0300 were structurally still in good condition and the engines had only been renewed in the 1980s, but the external appearance and interior fittings were very outdated and growing passenger dissatisfaction.

Thus, 21 train sets were fundamentally rebuilt in 1999 and 2000, giving them a completely new appearance and extending their service life by another 15 years. The conversion was carried out by the Empresa de Manutenção de Equipamento Ferroviário, which roughly translates to “company for the maintenance of railway material” and is based in Lisbon. New features included air conditioning, larger double-glazed windows and automatic doors. The first class compartment was left out and there were now 64 seats available. However, the engine power, which was lower than that of the old engines, soon led to the vehicles being phased out. Four were still in use in 2017 and two in March 2019.