Rheinhausen–Hochfeld train ferry

The Rhenish Railway Company expected a high volume of traffic and planned to operate five ferries.

It would have five ramps for ferry pontoons with passenger carriages and freight wagons crossing independently between two wire ropes over the Rhine.

Five pontoons for the transport of wagons were ordered from Cologne Maschinenbau AG (a subsidiary of the Berlin-Anhalt Railway Company) in Cologne-Bayenthal.

A 30 horsepower steam engine was installed at each end of the ferry route, which hauled a cable across the Rhine, connected via a 2.5 metre-long pulley to each pontoon.

Train ferry services were halted for about four weeks by storms, floods and icy conditions each year.

On 24 December 1873, freight wagons began to run over the bridge, passenger carriages were still carried by the train ferry up to 14 January 1874.