Duesseldorf is a divided city again:
Rheinbahn ferry services

The destruction of the bridges at the end of the war meant that Duesseldorf was a divided city again. Although there were a few boat owners and ferry operators who offered Rhine crossings at exorbitant prices, mass transportation was impossible to organise in this way. In light of this situation, the military government decided on 12 th July 1945 to license ferry services on the Rhine again.

After the construction of the Oberkassel Bridge, ferry services across the Rhine were traditionally the responsibility of the Rheinbahn. As a result, it was under obligation to organise them. The boats that it used, the "Erft" and the "Duessel", were not suitable for such heavy traffic and had to be supplemented with further vessels that could also transport vehicles. Every day, the Rheinbahn ferried up to 50,000 people across the Rhine on three different services:

Line 1: Rathausufer - Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring
Line 2: Rheinpark - Kaiser-Friedrich-Ring
Line 3: Rathausufer - Kaiser-Friedrich-Ring.

Shipping on the Rhine was still a risky undertaking because the ruins of the Oberkassel Bridge lay in the river and caused sand banks to build up, which made it impossible to cross the Rhine, even in small boats. The situation did not improve until a ferry channel was blasted free.