In anticipation of the building of a bridge, or at least a steam ferry, across the Rhine to the station of the Rhenish Railway Company ("Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft", RhE) at Trankgasse (at the south-eastern end of the current Hauptbahnhof) on the opposite bank with connections to Aachen and Antwerp, a terminus was completed as a starting point of the CME's line to Düsseldorf southwest of the present station near the Rhine on 20 December 1845. Two through tracks to the Rhine are also visible on old maps. The line was later extended via Duisburg and Dortmund to Minden, connecting to Berlin.