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.

While the Cologne-Minden Railway Company was building its trunk line between Cologne and Minden via Duisburg between 1843 and 1847, the shareholders of the Ruhrort-Crefeld District Gladbach Railway Company were looking for a way to bring coal from the Ruhr to industries on the western bank of the Rhine cheaply. Technology had not yet developed for building a bridge over the Rhine. In addition, prior to the Austro-Prussian War, the Prussian military opposed the building of a fixed bridge across the Rhine for military reasons, except in fortified cities such as Cologne, Mainz, Koblenz and Düsseldorf. Therefore, the RCG decided to build a train ferry between its left bank terminus in Homberg and the right bank port of Ruhrort.

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