Rheinau is located in one of two loops of the Rhine River at the border between Switzerland and Germany juste after the Rhine Falls of Schaffhausen.
The Rhine is navigable downstream of the Rhine Falls using flat-bottomed boats of the company Ernst Mandli AG (schiffmaendli.ch).
To pass the Rhine loop at Rheinau, there are three dams across the Rhine.
The first dam is that of the Rheinau Power Plant (Kraftwerk Rheinau) which is used to power the turbines to produce electricity.
To allow boats to overcome this drop, the dam is equipped since 1952 with a ramp on the German right bank. A boat lift is installed on this ramp. It is a flat cart rolling on a railway track which plunges into the Rhine on either side of the dam. Attached to this trolley is a cable which is moved by an electric motor located in a small shelter halfway at the top of the ramp.
The boat that wants to cross the dam must dock before the dam, unload the passengers on land, then advance above the cart immersed in the water of the Rhine. Once the boat is secured to the trolley, the trolley starts moving pulled by the cable, it transports the boat all along the ramp to its other end located under the waters of the Rhine downstream of the dam. Once detached from the cart, the boat is free to continue its journey on the waters of the Rhine. As for the passengers, they only have to cross the ramp by walking on the bank until they reach the boat which has crossed the dam.
There are 3 dams in Rheinau, each equipped with a boat lift:
- Boat lift 1 / Hauptwehr (Kraftwerk Rheinau)
- Boat lift 2 / Oberes Hilfswehr
- Boat lift 2 / Unteres Hilfswehr
Video with DJI Pocket 2 (4K)
Extract of video from Ernst Mandli AG (schiffmaendli.ch)