In 1882, the railway line was extended from Geldermalsen to Nijmegen. This created an international train connection from Rotterdam to Germany. The railway line was also important, because it partly broke the isolation of the Betuwe area. This made it possible to send large quantities of Betuwe fruit to other parts of the country.

In the 1930s, a large industrial area was built near the Tiel station because of fruit transports. This made the area even more strategically important during the war. In the period 1944-1945, when Tiel was occupied by German forces and the other side of the Waal had already been liberated, the station became a strategic target. The heaviest shelling took place on New Year's Day 1945.
On 11 February, a crashing V-1 struck a 25-metre crater near the station. Nevertheless, the Tiel station withstood the war.

Train services to Tiel were restored in July 1945. Yet the line along Tiel never again became the international connection it had been before the war.

The Tiel station building is a municipal monument. Similar stations were built in Sneek and in Gorinchem.