Royal Division of the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort Railway

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.

With the opening of the Witten/Dortmund–Oberhausen/Duisburg line via Essen 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 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 and the administration in Aachen was closed.