FAQ NeTEX

NeTEx overview

NeTEx has been developed under the aegis of CEN (Comité Européen de Normalisation) and is the most recent development stage in over fifteen years work to systemise and harmonize European passenger information data.

NeTEx provides a means to exchange data for passenger information such as stops, routes timetables and fares, among different computer systems, together with related operational data. It can be used to collect and integrate date from many different stakeholders, and to reintegrate it as it evolves through successive versions.

NeTEx is intended to be a general purpose XML format, designed for the efficient, updateable exchange of complex transport data among distributed systems. This allows the data to be used in modern web services architectures and to support a wide range of passenger information and operational applications.

To find out more about the NeTEX data model, visit the NeTEX website.

To verify your NeTEx data, use our free validation tool.

NeTEx-Light

Graphic and interactive technical presentation NeTEx Light (reduced XSD)

The normative NeTEx schema could be considered very big and extensive. Code generation tools for C# have difficulties with processing it. In order to use NeTEx within C# this derived XSD was created. This schema should be used informative, for application development, but not for validation purposes. This schema has been reduced to only match the scope of the EPIP Profile (European Passenger Information Profile) but remains compliant with the main NeTEx Schema.

The graphic interactive technical presentation and the technical artefacts are available here.

NeTEx EPIP

Ideally, all member states will provide NeTEx files according to the European Passenger Information Profile (EPIP) on their respective National Access Point. Data4PT provides some artefacts to simplify producing and quality assure such information. EPIP-adapted version of the full NeTEx XML schema has been produced.

• Browse the graphic and interactive technical presentation and download the relevant artefacts and available example here.

Graphic and interactive technical presentation NeTEx XSD for EPIP

NeTEx national and EU minimum profiles inventory

A number of national and transnational profiles have already been defined for different European countries, while there are new profiles under development. In the following table, DATA4PT provides an overview of the key characteristics of the national profiles per country, including the data categories that are currently covered. The table will be continuously updated following new implementations.

*Data categories are identified based on MMTIS EU Regulation 1926/2017

** European Passenger Information Profile

*** European Passenger Information Accessibility Profile

Functional scope per profile
Profiles		Full NeTEx format	EPIP**	EPIAP***	Austria	Croatia	Czech Republic	Denmark	France	Italy	Netherlands	Nordic (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark currently)	Portugal	Slovenija	Switzerland	UK	Irish	German VDV
Availability of NeTEx national profile				under development	Specified but not yet in operation	not yet specified	not yet specified	not yet specified	Specified and partially in operation	Specified but not yet in operation	specified but not yet in operation	Specified and in use	Specified and in use	specified but not yet in operation	in progress	Specified and in use	specified
NeTEx EPIP based
NeTEx EPIP compatible
Available mappings with full NeTEx profile																		VDV NeTEx page
Available mappings with EPIP profile
Data categories
LOS 1	Static data - Level of service 1
LOS 1-1	Address identifiers (building number, street name, postcode)
LOS 1-2	Topographic places (city, town, village, suburb, administrative unit)
LOS 1-3	Points of interest (related to transport information) to which people may wish to travel
LOS 1-4	Operational Calendar, mapping day types to calendar dates
LOS 1-5	Identified access nodes (all scheduled modes)
LOS 1-6	Geometry/map layout structure of access nodes (all scheduled modes)
LOS 1-7	Connection links where interchanges may be made, default transfer times between modes at interchanges
LOS 1-8	Network topology and routes/lines (topology)
LOS 1-9	Transport operators
LOS 1-10	Timetables
LOS 1-11	Planned interchanges between guaranteed scheduled services											For connection links we use journeyplanner based on OSM map data, road, cycle and pedestrian network is based on OpenStreetMap
LOS 1-12	Hours of operation
LOS 1-13	Vehicles (low floor; wheelchair accessible.)
LOS 1-14	Accessibility of access nodes, and paths within an interchange (such as existence of lifts, escalators)
LOS 1-15	Existence of assistance services (such as existence of on-site assistance)
LOS 1-16	Road network
LOS 1-17	Cycle network (segregated cycle lanes, on-road shared with vehicles, on-path shared with pedestrians)
LOS 1-18	Pedestrian network and accessibility facilities
	Framework data
LOS 2	Static data - Level of service 2				in progress
LOS 2-1	Park & Ride stops
LOS 2-2	Bike sharing stations
LOS 2-3	Car-sharing stations
LOS 2-4	Publicly accessible refuelling stations for petrol, diesel, CNG/LNG, hydrogen powered vehicles, charging stations for electric vehicles											Only charging stations for electric vehicles
LOS 2-5	Secure bike parking (such as locked bike garages)
LOS 2-6	Information service
LOS 2-7	Where and how to buy tickets for scheduled modes, demand responsive modes and car parking (all scheduled modes and demand-responsive incl. retail channels, fulfilment methods, payment methods)
LOS 2-8	Trip plans, auxiliary information, availability check
LOS 2-9	Basic common standard fares (all scheduled modes)
LOS 2-10	Fare network data (fare zones/stops and fare stages)
LOS 2-11	Standard fare structures (point to point including daily and weekly fares, zonal fares, flat fares)
LOS 2-12	Vehicle facilities such as classes of carriage, on-board Wi-Fi.
LOS 3	Static data - Level of service 3
LOS 3-1	Passenger classes (classes of user such as adult, child, student, veteran, impaired access and qualifying conditions and classes of travel such as 1st, 2nd.)
LOS 3-2	Common fare products (access rights such as zone/point-to-point including daily and weekly tickets/single/return, eligibility of access, basic usage conditions such as validity period/operator/time of travel/interchanging, standard point to point fares prices for different point to point pairs including daily and weekly fares/zonal fare prices/flat fare prices)
LOS 3-3	Special Fare Products: offers with additional special conditions such as promotional fares, group fares, season passes, aggregated products combining different products and add on products such as parking and travel, minimum stay
LOS 3-4	Basic commercial conditions such as refunding/replacing/exchanging/transferring and basic booking conditions such as purchase windows, validity periods, routing restrictions zonal sequence fares, minimum stay.
LOS 3-5	How to pay tolls (incl. retail channels, fulfilment methods, payment methods)
LOS 3-6	How to book car sharing, taxis, cycle hire etc. (incl. retail channels, fulfilment methods, payment methods)
LOS 3-7	Where how to pay for car parking, public charging stations for electric vehicles and refuelling points for CNG/LNG, hydrogen, petrol and diesel powered vehicles (incl. retail channels, fulfilment methods, payment methods)
LOS 3-8	Detailed cycle network attributes (surface quality, side-by-side cycling, shared surface, on/off road, scenic route, ‘walk only’, turn or access restrictions (e.g. against flow of traffic)
LOS 3-9	Parameters needed to calculate an environmental factor such as carbon per vehicle type or passenger mile or per distance walked
LOS 3-10	Parameters such as fuel consumption needed to calculate cost
LOS 3-11	Estimated travel times by day type and time-band by transport mode/combination of transport modes
	Links to the available documentation				Austrian profile			Denmark implements currently the Nordic Profile and the EU profiles	French Profile Common Profile Stop Profile Network Profile Timetable Profile Fare Profile Parking Profile Accessibility Profile	Italian Profile	Netherlands profile Bison Fares	Nordic Profile	Portuguese Profile	Slovenian Profile	Swiss profile - Work In progress	UK Profile (FareExchange) Introduction Stops and Timetables Fares	Irish Profile Profile Elements Profile Data Mappings	VDV462

If you believe that your use cases are resolved in an existing profile, it is highly recommended to adopt an existing solution and cooperate with the corresponding entity. You will save resources while you will ensure that your profile is interoperable. You can also find contact details for some of the entities responsible for the profiles in the documentation list. Otherwise you can contact us in DATA4PT.

NeTEx software / tools

General purpose XML tools can be used to work with the NeTEx XML schema and XML documents that conform to it, for example either the proprietary XML SPY , or Oxygen or see free tools at http://www.garshol.priv.no/download/xmltools/. A wide variety of mainstream XML tools are available to validate XML and to create bindings to specific programming languages (.NET, Java, PHP, C++).

To look at the design models, an interactive UML viewer such as Enterprise Architect is extremely helpful, although a set of static web pages is also available. Sample mappings to a variety of national formats (VDV, BISON, etc) as well as GTFS have been developed and are included in the NeTEx standard.

The following list of software is known to support NeTEx. We distinguish between different categories that may later receive a list of key performance indicators.

Conversion of NeTEx between other formats

Name	Availability	Description	Profile	License	URL
netex-protobuf	Available	NeTEx to protobuf converter	all	EUPL	https://github.com/entur/netex-protobuf
gtfs2netexfr	Available	Export GTFS data to NeTEx.	French		https://github.com/CanalTP/transit_model/tree/master/gtfs2netexfr
hastus	Available	Giro Hastus OIG script to export NeTEx from a system, in addition can export crew operations.	Dutch, Nordic(?)	AGPL-3.0	https://github.com/skinkie/hastus
josm-plugin-netex-converter	Available	Export OpenStreetMap pedestrian routing information into NeTEx.		GPL 2.0	https://gitlab.com/labiangashi/josm-plugin-netex-converter/
netex-gtfs-converter-java	Available	Export NeTEx data to GTFS	Nordic	EUPL	https://github.com/entur/netex-gtfs-converter-java
Chimera	Available	Chimera is a framework for semantic data transformation pipelines. A converter between GTFS and NeTEx has been implemented adopting an intermediate Transmodel representation.	Nordic (ready), EPIP/Italian (ongoing)	Framework – Apache License 2.0, Mapping GTFS-NeTEx – Proprietary license	Framework – https://github.com/cefriel/chimera Mapping GTFS-NeTEx – https://snap-project.eu/
OpenMove ATLAS	Available	The management platform OpenMove ATLAS allows import and editing of data in GTFS format and export also in GTFS or NeTEx format (currently the Italian Profile is supported, other profiles can be implemented on request).	EPIP Italian	Proprietary license	https://www.openmove.com/
GTFS2NeTEx-converter	Available	Converts GTFS data in NeTEx Italian Profile.	EPIP Italian	Proprietary License	Work in Progress

Data Validation tools

Name	Availability	Description	Profile	License	URL
XMLlint	Available	XML syntax validation, XSD schema validation and constraint checking.	All	MIT	http://www.xmlsoft.org/

Language bindings and software development aids

NeTEx XML bindings
Name	Availability	Description	Profile	License	URL
netex-java-model	Available	NeTEx XML bindings for Java, with additions to map temporal types to native objects.	Any	EUPL	https://github.com/entur/netex-java-model
netex-csharp-model	Not Available	NeTEx XML bindings for C#. Currently being researched with a variety of tools. Contact DATA4PT if you have questions or have found the golden egg.	Any
netex-parser-java	Available	Parse NeTEx files and lookup entities in an index	Nordic	EUPL	https://github.com/entur/netex-parser-java

Editing /Management & visualisation tools for NeTEx data

Name	Availability	Description	Profile	License	URL
Nplan	Available	Java backend / TypeScript frontend for create/edit/export of NeTEx data (Support both Timetable based and On-demand polygon based services)	Nordic	EUPL	backend - https://github.com/entur/uttu frontend - https://github.com/entur/enki
NSR	Available	Java backend / JavaScript frontend for import/creation/edit/export for NeTEx stops data. (Act as a National Stops Register for the whole of Norway)	Nordic	EUPL	backend - https://github.com/entur/tiamat frontend - https://github.com/entur/abzu
Chouette	Available	Java backend / Ruby frontend for import/validation/edit/export of NeTEx data. Highly modified version of the old AFIMB version of Chouette. NOTE: Legacy software not recommended for new implemetations	Nordic	CeCILL-B	backend - https://github.com/entur/chouette frontend - https://github.com/entur/chouette2
Chouette	Available	Java based NeTEx tools, transforms between profiles and standards (NeTEx, GTFS, Neptune).	EPIP	Apache 2.0	https://enroute.mobi/produits/chouette/
mobilitx	Available				https://mobilitx.diginext.fr/
mobiref	Available				https://www.lumiplan.com/produit/mobiref/
NeTEx Reader	In Development	C# based XML tool, based on Giro Hastus XSD.	Dutch		https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpb_1Y9uR5k
netexconv2	In Development	Java based NeTEx tools, transforms between profiles and standards (NeTEx, DINO, HAFAS, KV1, GTFS).	Dutch, EPIP, Nordic, VDV462
IVU.cloud	Available		EPIP		https://www.ivu.com/news/news/article/delfi-successfully-migrates-to-ivucloud.html
Motus	Available	Motus is the Fleet Scheduling Management System provided by Pluservice. The application is designed by independent and integrated modules which can be activated according to specific operational needs. One of the latest module created and already available is the generation of NeTEx datasets starting from the operational data collected by public transport operators. For this purpose, Motus receives the input data starting from a GTFS and it is able to enrich these data with further relevant information such as contracts, vehicles. Then Motus transforms these data into the NeTEx Italian profile. Data model: the database is designed according to Transmodel specifications, European reference standard (EN12896) for public transport.	Italian		https://www.pluservice.net/it/soluzioni/gestione-rete-e-turni

NeTEx data enabled

Name	Availability	Description	Profile	License	URL
OpenTripPlanner	Available	Timetable and shortest path journey planner supporting reading various input formats including GTFS and NeTEx.	Nordic	Apache 2.0	http://docs.opentripplanner.org/en/dev-2.x/Netex-Norway/

Planning system supporting native NeTEx export

Name	Availability	Description	Profile
Hastus	Available	Planning system from Giro for public transport	Nordic
Trapeze	Available	Planning system from Trapeze for public transport	Nordic
DG Buss	Available	Planning system from Datagrafikk for public transport	Nordic
Train Plan	Available	Planning system from Trapeze for railway	Nordic
IVU	In development	Planning system from IVU for public transport	Nordic
IVU	In development	Planning system from IVU for railway	Nordic
Turnit	Available	Planning system from Turnit for public transport	Nordic
Nplan	Available	Planning system from Entur for public transport	Nordic
TPSI	Available	Planning system from HaCon for railway	Nordic

NeTEx Part 5 for New Modes

The NeTEx extension for New Modes addresses the development of a data exchange format dedicated to the publication of data concerning ‘Alternative Modes’ (as requested in EU COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2017/1926 of 31 May 2017). This work will generate NeTEx Part 5 focusing on (but not a limitation to) car sharing, cycle sharing, carpooling, car/cycle rental. It is primarily oriented towards static data (describing the service that is offered and associated infrastructure, more than its current running status). The corresponding real-time information is provided by SIRI. More information can be found in NeTEx website. The technical standard is now available by CEN/TS 16614-5:2022 (E).

Supportive material is already available through different channels (check below).

Technical artefacts

The XML schema (XSD) for NeTEx Part 5 New Modes is available in GitHub. In this NeTEx - CEN GitHub channel, examples are also provided, along with other useful documentation.

Canonical mapping with GBFS

Preceding the publication of the extension of the Network Timetable Exchange (NeTEx) for ‘new modes’, the EU-funded project DATA4PT and MobilityData experts release the high-level mapping between the General Bikeshare Feed Specification (GBFS) and Transmodel in order to support better interoperability of shared mobility data feeds. The mapping report is available here.