page_title: Betuweroute
section_title: Infrastructure
hierarchical_section_title: Betuweroute / Infrastructure
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Betuweroute naast een tankstation aan de A15
context_page_description: The Betuweroute is a double track freight railway from Rotterdam to Germany. Betuweroute is the official name, after the Betuwe area through which it passes, but the line is popularly referred to as Betuwelijn, after an older track in the same region. The Germans have named their part the Hollandstrecke. Together they form Project nr. 5 of Trans-European Transport Networks.
context_section_description: A lot of infrastructure was built or reconstructed to get the trains rolling. The most striking works:
  container terminals in Rotterdam: Rail Service Centre Maasvlakte, Rail Service Centre Waalhaven, and Maasvlakte 2
  The 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) long Botlekspoortunnel under Rotterdam harbour replaces the antiquated Botlek bridge, which remains in service as backup and for regional traffic. Space around the tunnel was so constrained that, after completing the first tube, the tunnel boring machine had to be dismantled inside the tube. The parts were then returned to the starting point and reassembled to bore the second tube.
  Reconstructed classification yard Kijfhoek between Barendrecht and Zwijndrecht.
  Barendrecht railway station, where 9 tracks are in a 1.5 kilometers (0.93 mi) long structure, much of it covered under a layer of earth, to keep noise at bay. On top is a new city park. At the station itself 4 of the tracks, with the platforms, have a glass roof. Nearby tracks cross on two levels.
  Tunnel under Pannerdensch Kanaal near Angeren. Instead of the projected bridge, a 2.7 kilometers (1.7 mi) tunnel was bored, to spare landscape and environment. The tunnel entrances were designed to blend in with the landscape. The tunnel itself has large lock doors at each end, to prevent a flood on one side of the canal inundating the region on the opposite bank. Because two endangered animal species were found in the vicinity of the tunnel, a new habitat was laid out for the Great crested newt and the Natterjack Toad, as this video shows.
caption: A tunnel for the Betuweroute near highway A15
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