Elst – Dordrecht railway line

Elst – Dordrecht Betuwelijn
A GTW series train at Herveld
Route length:	92.8 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	Tiel – Dordrecht: 1500 V  =
Top speed:	130 km / h
Train control :	Elst – Tiel: ATB NG Tiel – Dordrecht: ATB-EG
Dual track :	Vork – Kesteren, Wadenoijen – Geldermalsen, Dordrecht Stadspolders – Dordrecht
Province :	Gelderland , Utrecht , Zuid-Holland
course
Legend from Arnhem 0 Elst by Zevenaar from Nijmegen A 50 11 Zetten-Andelst 15th Hemmen-Dodewaard 17th Opheusden 21st Kesteren A 15 Amsterdam-Rhine Canal Port route Tiel 33 Tiel 36 Tiel Passewaaij A 15 from Boxtel 45 Geldermalsen Linge to Utrecht 52 Beesd A 2 58 Leerdam Merwede Canal 66 Arkel A 15 70 Gorinchem A 27 A 15 77 Boven Hardinxveld To water 80 Hardinxveld-Giessendam 81 Hardinxveld Blauwe Zoom 84 Sliedrecht A 15 87 Sliedrecht Baanhoek Beneden-Merwede Wantij 91 Dordrecht Stadspolders N 3 from Breda 93 Dordrecht to Rotterdam

The Elst – Dordrecht railway is a railway line between the Dutch towns of Elst in the east of the country and Dordrecht in the Randstad . Most of it runs through the Betuwe region and is 92.8 kilometers long.

history

In 1875 the Dutch government decided to create the Elst – Dordrecht railway line as the last state railway line to create a connection between the city of Rotterdam and the German region of Lower Rhine . The railway line went into operation on November 1, 1882 with the opening of the Elst– Geldermalsen section . On December 1, 1883, the section Geldermalsen - Gorinchem was opened and on July 16, 1885, the remaining section between Gorinchem and Dordrecht was finally opened. The Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen was then commissioned to operate the route . Just four years later, in 1890, the line became the responsibility of Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij .

After the end of the Second World War , the section from Geldermalsen to Sliedrecht was only single-lane. In 1978, the line between Tiel and Geldermalsen was electrified before the section between Dordrecht and Geldermalsen was electrified in 1992. The section between Elst and Tiel has not been electrified to this day.

In December 2012 Arriva took over the train service between Elst and Tiel, which starts at Arnhem Centraal station . The Geldermalsen – Dordrecht segment has been served by Qbuzz as part of R-net since December 2018 . Trains of the Nederlandse Spoorwegen , the so-called Sprinter, stop on the Tiel – Geldermalsen route .

Train stations

• 

  Elst

• 

  Zetten-Andelst

• 

  Hemmen-Dodewaard

• 

  Opheusden

• 

  Kesteren

• 

  Tiel

• 

  Tiel Passewaaij

• 

  Geldermalsen

• 

  Beesd

• 

  Leerdam

• 

  Arkel

• 

  Gorinchem

• 

  Boven Hardinxveld

• 

  Hardinxveld-Giessendam

• 

  Hardinxveld Blauwe Zoom

• 

  Sliedrecht

• 

  Sliedrecht Baanhoek

• 

  Dordrecht Stadspolders

• 

  Dordrecht

Route connections

The following lines operate on the Elst – Dordrecht line in the 2019 annual timetable :

Train type	Line course	frequency
sprinter	Woerden  - Utrecht Centraal  - Geldermalsen  - Tiel	every half hour
Stoptrein (Arriva)	Arnhem Centraal  - Elst  - Tiel	hourly
Stop clean ( Qbuzz )	Dordrecht  - Gorinchem  - Geldermalsen	every half hour; Part of the R-net traffic concept
Stop clean ( Qbuzz )	Dordrecht  - Gorinchem	every half hour; Part of the R-net traffic concept

Web links

Commons : Elst – Dordrecht railway line  - collection of images

• De Betuwelijn: Dordrecht - Geldermalsen - Elst. In: martijnvanvulpen.nl. (Dutch). 
• Overzicht van de spoorlijn Dordrecht - Elst. In: stationsweb.nl. (Dutch). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Qbuzz from the start in the Dordrecht region, including Merwedelingelijn. In: Treinreiziger.nl. December 11, 2018, accessed February 1, 2019 (Dutch).