The Royal Division of the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort Railway () was a railway division controlled by the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n government that was founded in 1850 and taken over by the

Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company The Bergisch-Markisch Railway Company (, BME), also referred to as the Berg-Mark Railway Company or, more rarely, as the Bergisch-Markische Railway Company, was a German railway company that together with the Cologne-Minden Railway (''Cöln-Min ...

in 1862. It was based in Aachen and founded on 4 March 1850, taking over the operation from 1 April 1850 of two railway companies that had been working together since their founding: *''Ruhrort-Crefeld District Gladbach Railway Company'' (''Ruhrort–Crefeld−Kreis Gladbach Eisenbahngesellschaft'', RCG), founded in 1844, approved by the

n government on 21 August 1846 and granted a concession on 8 January 1847 to build the line from Homberg via Trompet,

Uerdingen Uerdingen () is a district of the city of Krefeld, Germany, with a population of 17,888 (2019). Originally a separate city in its own right, Uerdingen merged with the city of Krefeld in 1929. Today, Uerdingen is best known for a local distillery ...

and

Viersen Viersen (; ) is the capital of the Viersen (district), district of Viersen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Viersen is situated approximately 8 km north-west of Mönchengladbach, 15 km south-west of Krefeld and 20 km ...

to Gladbach. *''Aachen-Neuß-Düsseldorf Railway Company'' (''Aachen-Neuß-Düsseldorfer Eisenbahngesellschaft''), founded in 1846 and granted a concession on 21 August 1846 to build the line from

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

via Gladbach,

Neuss Neuss (; written ''Neuß'' until 1968; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district. It is primarily known for its ...

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Establishment

The ''Ruhrort-Crefeld District Gladbach Railway Company'' built the Homberg am Rhein via Krefeld to Viersen with a length of 33.6 kilometres and opened it on 15 October 1849. Because of financial difficulties, the company received a government guarantee on its interest payments. Under an agreement of 26 September 1846, it was agreed that the Prussian state would be responsible for both companies in order to promote construction and operation of the railways.

Construction of lines

As of 1 April 1850, the two railway companies came under the management of the ''Royal Division of the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort Railway'' in Aachen. Lines were opened as follows: Rheinstation was a freight station only, where goods could be transferred to river boats on the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

or loaded on carts to be hauled over the Düsseldorf

pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, is a bridge that uses float (nautical), floats or shallow-draft (hull), draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the support ...

, opened in 1839. The initiative for the railway line came from the industrialists of

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...

and

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Netherlands, Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, th ...

, who intended to give domestic industry cheap access to raw materials from overseas via the port of

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

and to cheap supplies of coal from the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

. At the same time the rail links would facilitate the marketing of their products. To avoid the difficult transhipment of goods for the crossing of the Rhine–the military had not allowed the construction of a railway bridge from

Ruhrort Ruhrort () is a district in the borough of Homberg/Ruhrort/Baerl within the German city of Duisburg situated north of the confluence of the Ruhr (river), Ruhr and the Rhine, in the western part of the Ruhr Area, Ruhr area. Ruhrort has the largest ...

to Homberg–the ''Ruhrort-Crefeld District Gladbach Railway Company'' signed a contract on 29 March 1849 with the

Cologne-Minden Railway Company The Cologne-Minden Railway Company (German, old spelling: ''Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', ''CME'') was along with the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company and the Rhenish Railway Company one of the railway companies that in the mid-19th ...

to operate a

train ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry Railroad car, railway vehicles, as well as their cargoes and passengers. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with Track (rail transport), railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the f ...

for freight wagons and passenger carriages across the river between Ruhrort and Homberg. The

Ruhrort–Homberg train ferry The Ruhrort–Homberg train ferry was a German train ferry on the Rhine between Ruhrort and Homberg, now districts of Duisburg. History While the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (''Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', CME) was building its Co ...

commenced operations on 12 November 1852. Initially carriages were lowered by ropes down a ramp to the non-powered pontoon and raised on the other side with ropes hauled by a locomotive. A steam ship towed coupled pontoons over the river. It was able to transfer up to 700 carriages a month. In 1854, to increase the efficiency of ferry operation, both companies started building lift towers on both banks through which carriages could be hydraulically raised or lowered to the ferries. After the commissioning of the towers on 1 May 1856, the number of carriages that could be handled increased from about 30,000 to 50,000 cars annually.

Takeover by the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company

With the opening of the Witten/Dortmund–Oberhausen/Duisburg line via

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

in 1862, the ''Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company'' gained its own access to the coal mines of the Ruhr and was thus able to offer the only competition to the operations of the ''Cologne-Minden Railway Company''. To export coal towards Belgium, Netherlands and shipping ports it built a connecting line from Mülheim-

Styrum Styrum (; sometimes spelled "Stirum") was an immediate lordship in the Holy Roman Empire, located in Mülheim an der Ruhr, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It held no seat in the Diet and was circumvened by the Lordship of Broich. The exact dat ...

to the river port at Ruhrort, which was completed in 1867. To achieve its broader goals, it turned to the Prussian government for funds to acquire all the available shares of the ''Royal Division of the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort Railway''. On 1 January 1866, the ''Royal Division of the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort Railway'' was merged with the ''Bergisch-Märkisches Railway Company'' and, on 8 January 1866, the management of the railway was transferred to the administration of the ''Bergisch-Märkisches Railway Company'' in

Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the Germany, German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929. History The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was ...

and the administration in Aachen was closed. {{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Division of the Aachen-Dusseldorf-Ruhrort Railway Defunct railway companies of Germany Railway companies established in 1850 Railway companies disestablished in 1862 1850 establishments in Prussia 1850 establishments in the German Confederation 1862 disestablishments in Prussia Transport in Prussia