Initial development & first generation uses

Transmodel originated in the Cassiope project (Computer Aided System for Scheduling Information and Operation of Public Transport in Europe, 1989-1991), carried out under the initial EEC DRIVE programme.^[1] The results of Cassiope were then developed further by the EuroBus and Harpist (Drive II) projects. This produced Transmodel V4.1 ENV 12896 with a E/R “Oracle” formalism.^{[clarification needed]}

The Telematics Applications Programme project TITAN (1996-1998) continued to validate and enhance Transmodel, implementing it in three European pilot sites. TITAN accompanied the standardisation process of Transmodel, which was chosen in 1997 as the European Experimental Norm ENV 12896. This led to Transmodel V5.0: with multi-modality, real-time control, layers, and data versioning

The Système d'Information pour le Transport Public (SITP) (Information System for Public Transport), which began in 1999 under the sponsorship of the French Ministry of Transport, developed Transmodel 5.1, adding a UML formalism.

In 2006, version 5.1 of Transmodel was formally adopted by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) as the European Standard EN 12896.

Second generation (Transmodel v5.1)

Transmodel has been fundamental to the development of a number of concrete national data models and European Standards, including both European standards Service Interface for Real Time Information (SIRI: 2001-2005, now a CEN technical specification) for Real-time data exchange for buses, and Identification of Fixed Objects In Public Transport (2006-2007), now assimilated into Transmodel v6.0 Part 2, and national standards such as TransXChange (2001-2005, now the UK standard for bus PT timetables), and the French Trident standard (1999-2003). Its provision of a uniform conceptual framework, consistent terminology and well grounded abstractions make it especially valuable for comparing, harmonising and modernising legacy standards and systems and for international cooperation.

Third generation (Transmodel v6.0)

Transmodel based applications are now in widespread use through many parts of Europe for exchanging timetable and real-time data. A revised V6.0 version of Transmodel incorporating additional capabilities and breaking the specification into eight separate modules is underdevelopment. Parts 1, 2 & 3, covering respectively common concepts, network descriptions, and timetables were published in 2015. Parts 4 to 8, covering operational actions, fares, passenger information services, driver management, and management information and statistics were published in 2019.

NeTEx (NETwork EXchange) is a concrete XML scheme implementing the central components of the Transmodel model as a modular W3C schema. It was developed as Standard by CEN/TC 278/WG 3 (public transport working group) between 2009 and 2014 as a format for exchanging inter-modal stop, timetable, and fare data for public transport Europe-wide. In 2017, under the Intelligent Transport Systems Priority Action A Directive (2010/40/E), the European Commission recognised NeTEx as a strategic standard for the cross-border exchange of data to enable the provision of EU-wide multi-modal travel information services. It aims to make data available in NeTEx format at National Access Points (government-designated open databases) in all European countries.