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Elst–Dordrecht railway
Overview
Status	Operational
Locale	Netherlands
Termini	Elst railway station Dordrecht railway station
Service
Operator(s)	Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Arriva, Qbuzz
History
Opened	1882 - 1885
Technical
Line length	92.8 km (57.7 mi)
Number of tracks	Double track (Vork–Kesteren, Wadenoijen–Geldermalsen, Dordrecht Stadspolders–Dordrecht) Single track (Elst–Vork, Kesteren–Wadenoijen, Geldermalsen–Dordrecht Stadspolders)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	1.5 kV DC (Tiel–Dordrecht)
Route map Legend Line from Arnhem 0.0 Elst Line to Nijmegen 11.1 Zetten-Andelst 14.5 Hemmen-Dodewaard 17.0 Opheusden 20.7 Kesteren to Rhenen Amsterdam–Rhine Canal 32.8 Tiel 35.0 Tiel Passewaaij Line from 's-Hertogenbosch 44.7 Geldermalsen River Linge Line to Utrecht 51.5 Beesd 58.3 Leerdam 65.7 Arkel 70.4 Gorinchem 79.8 Hardinxveld-Giessendam 81.2 Hardinxveld Blauwe Zoom 83.8 Sliedrecht 87.0 Sliedrecht Baanhoek River Beneden Merwede 90.7 Dordrecht Stadspolders Line from Breda 92.8 Dordrecht Line to Rotterdam

The Elst–Dordrecht railway is a railway line in the Netherlands running from Elst to Dordrecht, passing through Tiel, Geldermalsen and Gorinchem. It is also called the Betuwelijn ( Batavia line). MerwedeLingelijn is the name of the western part between Dordrecht and Geldermalsen, which is operated by Qbuzz. Tiel - Elst as part of the service Tiel - Arnhem is operated by Arriva and Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) operates Geldermalsen - Tiel as part of the service Utrecht - Tiel. The railway connects to the Arnhem–Nijmegen railway in Elst. There were two connections to the Arnhem–Nijmegen railway in the past from the junction near Vork station; one to Elst and towards Nijmegen connecting near Ressen. The Nijmegen junction was used until 1990 and torn down during construction of the Betuweroute in order of creating a junction between the Betuweroute from Rotterdam and the Arnhem–Nijmegen railway towards both Arnhem and Nijmegen.

• 1 November 1882 - Railway line opens between Elst and Geldermalsen
• 1 December 1883 - Railway line opens between Geldermalsen and Gorinchem
• 16 July 1885 - Railway line opens between Gorinchem and Dordrecht
• 1916: Schaapsteeg stop closes
• 15 May 1927 - Giessen-Oudekerk station closes
• 15 May 1931 - Vork station closes
• 15 May 1938 - Arkel, Echteld, and Valburg stations close
• 10 June 1940 - Arkel station re-opens
• 1950: Wadenoijen station closes
• 2 June 1957 - Hardinxveld-Giessendam station opens
• 28 May 1978 - the section Geldermalsen - Tiel is electrified. As a result, diesel trains no longer service the complete Utrecht - Tiel - Arnhem/Nijmegen track, but as of then they only service Tiel to Arnhem/Nijmegen forcing passengers to change trains in Tiel.
• 31 May 1987 - Regular train services Tiel - Nijmegen cease. Only peak hour services remain. Passengers are forced to change trains in Elst.
• 27 May 1990 - Dordrecht Stadspolders station opens; the train service Tiel - Nijmegen ceases completely.
• 31 May 1992 - the section Dordrecht - Geldermalsen is electrified
• 1 April 2005 - Syntus wins contract to operate the service Tiel - Elst (- Arnhem) when NS stopped servicing this track.
• 10 December 2006 - Arriva wins contract to operate the service Dordrecht - Geldermalsen ending the former NS services. Arriva operates a half-hourly service 7 days a week, starting earlier and finishing later. Passengers are offered improved better train changes at Dordrecht for Rotterdam, Den Haag, and Amsterdam and at Geldermalsen for Utrecht
• 14 September 2008 - New Spurt material is put into service by Arriva.
• 11 December 2011 - Sliedrecht Baanhoek and Hardinxveld Blauwe Zoom stations open
• 16 April 2012 - Boven-Hardinxveld station opens
• 9 December 2012 - Arriva wins contract to operate the service Tiel - Elst - Arnhem ending the Syntus services
• 9 December 2018 - Qbuzz wins contract to operare the service Dordrecht - Geldermalsen ending the Arriva services

In future^{[ when?]} new stations will be added.

These are:

• Gorinchem Noord (Between Gorinchem and Arkel)
• Leerdam Broekgraaf (Between Leerdam and Beesd)

A quarter-hourly service is operated between Gorinchem and Dordrecht after creating passing loops at Dordrecht Stadspolders and Boven-Hardinxveld.

• 2 hourly local services (stoptrein) Dordrecht - Gorinchem - Geldermalsen (Qbuzz)
• 2 hourly local services (stoptrein) Dordrecht - Gorinchem (Qbuzz)
• 2 hourly local services (Sprinter) Utrecht - Geldermalsen - Tiel between Geldermalsen and Tiel (NS)
• 1 hourly local service (stoptrein) Tiel - Elst - Arnhem between Elst and Tiel (Arriva)