On this pages you can find two modern transporter bridges. To be honest, they do not fit the definition of a transporter bridge; they are a combination of a transporter bridge and a cable railway. But as they are very special, I have included them on this website.
Click on a tab below to see more of these transporter bridges.
The transporter bridge in Mönchengladbach is not normal like the other bridges. It was not established in the same period as the other bridges, but only fairly recent. And besides that, is is a very much smaller as the other transporter bridges.
This transporter bridge was constructed in 2003, and it must be said, the distance of it is so small, that it is barely true to name it. But there are fans of suspension springs. One is Mirko Baum, architect and teacher in Aachen. He designed a small transporter bridge in Mönchengladbach on the canal Neue Niers. This channel is the first step for a channel that should form a connection between Neuss (on the river Rhine) and Venlo in the Netherlands (on the river Meuse). This chanel would form a connection between the Rhine and the Dutch and Belgian ports. Work began in 1807, but when Napoleons heydays were counted work was already stopped in 1810. A residual canal near Mönchengladbach was all that remained.
Around the year 2000, this area was revived, this time as cycling route. In the hamlet Cloerbruch, part of the city of Mönchengladbach, a small transporter bridge was inaugurated in 2003. It is called an "Erlebnisbrücke" (experience bridge). The cabin is only 2.5 by 1.5 meters, and the person who wants to make a crossing, must work with his own muscles.
| Opening | 2003 |
| Distance between shores | 8 meter |
| Total length | 18 meter |
| Clearance | 4 meter |
| Motor power | spierkracht |
A view of the small ferry. The person on the foto gives a good idea of the size of the transporter bridge.
Two cyclists just can go into the cabin. It rides over an I-profile. With a rope it can be brought to the other shore of the canal. When a person arrives and the platform is on the other shore, then he can pull it with the rope to the other shore.
A side view of the construction. An I-profile, hung with span cables on two pillars. The paltform is nos on the other shore of the canal.
The transporter bridge, just near the Müngstener Brücke, is a modern ferry. Actually, it is not a real transporter bridge, because in contrast to the other bridges it does not hang on cables below a large construction. In Müngsten, only two cables are span across the river Wupper. On top of these two cables there rides a platform, that is driven by the ferryman, in cooperation with the passengers themselves. The driving is pretty much like that of a cable ferry. Only it does not sail through the water, but is is moving through the air.
The Müngsten Bridge is a railway bridge over the river Wupper, which was built in 1897. With its length of 465 meters, 170 meters of span and a height of up to 107 meters, it is one of the largest bridges in Germany. Recently, the bridge has been released for train traffic, after a long-term restoration of many years.
Around this bridge there has been created a nature park in the course of time, the Müngsten Bridge Park. Obviously the name has come from the the railway bridge.
The small transporter bridge was built in 2006. That it provides in a great need is demonstrated by the number of passenger. After only two and a half years, in 2008, there was welcomed already the 200,000th passenger. The transporter bridge is situated in a number of hiking and biking routes.
The transporter bridge is suitable only for pedestrians and cyclists. Per crossing up to 10 passengers can sail. The transporter bridge is in service only in the summer. It is also shut down in bad weather conditions.
| Opening | 2006 |
| Distance between shores | 61 meter |
| Total length | 65 meter |
| Clearance | ? meter |
| Total height | ? meter |
| Motor power | muscle force |
A view of the small transporter bridge over the river
Zoals we op deze foto kunnen zien, moet het veer met de hand worden aangedreven. Een handel kan aan twee kanten worden bediend, zodat eigenlijk vier mensen het veer kunnen bedienen.
The transporter bridge above the river. In the background we can see the impressive railway bridge.
This page is part of the Websites of Wim Kusee
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