The Bingerbrück–Rüdesheim train ferry was operated as a

train ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train f ...

from 1862 to 1900 across the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

between

Bingerbrück Bingerbrück () is a ''Stadtteil'' of Bingen am Rhein, on the opposite side of the river Nahe from the old town of Bingen. It was self-administering until 1969. Points of interest Binger Mäuseturm "The Mouse Tower of Bingen" - a customs tower ...

now in the German state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

and Rüdesheim now in the state of

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

. On 15 December 1859 was the

Rhenish Railway Company The Rhenish Railway Company (German language, German: ''Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', RhE) was along with the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (CME) and the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (BME) one of the railway companies that in the m ...

(german: Rheinische Eisenbahngesellschaft ) put the final section of its Left Rhine railway from

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

to Bingerbrück into operation. A few months later, on 26 May 1860, the ''Rhine-Nahe Railway Company'' (''Rhein-Nahe Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'') completed the

Nahe Valley Railway The Nahe Valley Railway (german: Nahetalbahn) is a two-track, partially electrified main line railway in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, which runs for almost 100 kilometres along the Nahe (Rhine), Nahe. It was built by the ...

from Bingerbrück to Neunkirchen in the

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

. Both rail lines could be used to supply the demand for coal in the Middle and

Upper Rhine The Upper Rhine (german: Oberrhein ; french: Rhin Supérieur) is the section of the Rhine between Basel in Switzerland and Bingen in Germany, surrounded by the Upper Rhine Plain. The river is marked by Rhine-kilometres 170 to 529 (the sc ...

. The supply of the

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

and

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

area by rail was only possible by a roundabout route via the

Rhine-Main Railway The Rhine-Main Railway (german: Main-Rhein-Bahn), is a railway line in southern Germany from Mainz Hauptbahnhof, Mainz via Darmstadt Hauptbahnhof, Darmstadt to Aschaffenburg Hauptbahnhof, Aschaffenburg. It was built by the Hessian Ludwig Railway ...

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

and

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

. In 1862 the ''Nassau Rhine Railway'' (''Nassauische Rheinbahn'', now part of the East Rhine line) was opened between Rudesheim and

Oberlahnstein Oberlahnstein () is a part of the city of Lahnstein in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. It lies on the right bank of the Rhine, at the confluence of the Lahn 4 m. above Koblenz, on the Right Rhine railway from Cologne to Frankfurt-on-Main. Oberla ...

, providing a more direct route to Wiesbaden and Frankfurt. To encourage the transport of coal by rail and to compete more effectively with river barges, the Rhine-Nahe Railway and the

Nassau State Railway The Nassau State Railway (german: Nassauische Staatsbahn) took over the privately built railway lines on the Rhine and Lahn rivers in the Duchy of Nassau from the ''Nassau Rhine and Lahn Railway Company'' in 1861 and extended them further. It was ta ...

(which now owned the Nassau Rhine line) decided to set up a ferry for freight wagons between Bingerbrück and Rüdesheim. The freight ferry was put into operation on 1 September 1862. A passenger ferry opened on 5 November 1861 on the Bingerbrück– Bingen– Rüdesheim route. Originally it was operated with two

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...

s (''Bingerbrück'' and ''Rüdesheim'') attached alongside coupled pontoons carrying the freight wagons over the Rhine. The freight wagons were loaded and unloaded via tracks on moveable ramps. Passengers used steam ships and ferries operating on a different route (see above). The movement of wagons did not end until 1900. The passenger ferry was operated by

Prussian State Railways The term Prussian state railways (German: ''Preußische Staatseisenbahnen'') encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia. The words "state railways" are not capitalized because Prussia did not have a ...

until July 1907. After that passengers were able to use the tram to Bingen and the Bingen–Rüdesheim ferry. Later freight traffic could use the

Hindenburg Bridge The Hindenburg Bridge (german: Hindenburgbrücke) was a railway bridge over the Rhine between Rüdesheim am Rhein, Rüdesheim in the German state of Hesse and Bingen am Rhein, Bingen-Kempten state of Rhineland-Palatinate, named in 1918 after Genera ...

built from 1913 to 1915, but destroyed in 1945 and never rebuilt.

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bingerbruck-Rudesheim train ferry Train ferries Railway lines in Rhineland-Palatinate Railway lines in Hesse 1862 establishments in Germany Rheingau