The pupils belonged to the final year of a school in Radevormwald and were returning from a trip to Bremen. Around 21:00, the train had just left the railway station in "Wuppertal-Beyenburg" and was a few minutes away from the railway station in "Dahlerau". Farther south, a freight train was traveling from Radevormwald to Wuppertal, and had just arrived outside the Dahlerau station. The freight train would have to wait in the station to allow the passenger train to pass. This was necessary because the passenger train was 30 minutes late and there was only one track on the railway line outside the station.