The train grows

At first sight one would attribute the above scene to one of the many construction or maintenance projects on the rail infrastructure. On closer inspection, the photo from 1943 shows that the construction site is separated from the railway area and that the earth’s surface takes on the contours of vegetable gardens. No new tracks are being laid here, agriculture is practiced here. The photo is pictorial evidence of the effects of the “culture war” on federal railroads.

The annexation battle, also called annex, was fought in November 1940 by the so-called «Plan elections» launched. The plan, named after the agricultural expert and later federal councilor Friedrich Traugott Wahlen, aimed to make Switzerland food self-sufficient during World War II, which was to be achieved through a massive expansion of arable land. New arable land had to be reclaimed, for example by converting, reclaiming or improving pastures into arable land.

In addition to the general population, industry was also obliged to self-sufficiency, namely to set up plantations for their employees. Also the SBB as a trading company with more than 100 employees, it should have been involved in the annex. However, it was released from this obligation due to the extraordinary burden on the company resulting from the sharp increase in traffic and increased demands on personnel.

However, the federal government expressed the expectation that staff and administration would voluntarily participate in beekeeping and also the SBB-General management encouraged the railway staff to actively cooperate in view of the increasing nutritional problems.

This resulted in a lively demand for planting soil. Railroad engineers and railroad masters were tasked with identifying potential arable land in their districts. However, most of the land immediately adjacent to the railway lines had already been leased to farms or to the railway employees themselves. The railway employees often planted in their gardens for their own use. For example, ditches along the railway lines were still unused and have now been filled in and transformed into narrow strips of new cultivated land. However, these soils were almost always poorly cultivated soils, which in most cases required humus and fertilizers to make them usable.

In urban areas, where the demand for usable land was particularly high, former rail and sleeper depots could be converted into cultivated land and used for agriculture. The import difficulties during the war years contributed to the fact that less space was needed for material storage.

Farming on railway lines was a special case: some railway lines from the era of private railways were wide enough for two-lane traffic, but only one lane. The so-called blind lane formed a strip about three meters wide. After some production work, this land was not excellent, but mostly cropland.

Potatoes and vegetables were usually grown on the newly established arable land, as well as maize or grain, depending on climatic conditions. Reed willows were also planted for industry. The cultivation of hazelnut trees, on the other hand, caused problems: these apparently were repeatedly looted by thieves, so that this effort was abandoned.

The areas funded by the administration were processed by the staff. Many devoted their free time to the annex, for which they received travel concessions or relief for staggered vacations or exchanging business trips, among other things. When ordering large areas, one or two extra vacation days were allocated.

For special achievements, such as planting remote areas of land, small bonuses were awarded or letters of thanks were sent. Students also had to make a mandatory work assignment for the batter. The railway sports clubs were very active, he ordered Sports club of the railway workers In 1943, Bern covered an area of ​​20 ares.

As a result of these efforts, parts of the land of the Bundesbahn were successively included in the cultivation battle. staff and administration SBB contributed to the improvement of the supply situation. in the planning elections The intended goals were missed, but what was important was the symbolic significance for national cohesion. As one of the many population groups, the railway employees were able to contribute to the annexation and thus express Switzerland’s will to resist and assert itself during the war years. The administration of SBB in turn, the planting activities of their own staff were gladly included in their own reporting and thus included in the well-organized national propaganda.