Introducing the ÖPNV Projekt Tracker

Germany’s public transport infrastructure is full of ambitious projects — new tram lines, reactivated railway routes, cable cars, and more. But keeping track of their status is hard: plans change, construction stalls, and information is scattered across newspaper articles, government websites, and press releases.

The ÖPNV Projekt Tracker changes that.

It’s a website that gives you a clear, structured overview of public transport projects across Germany. Every project shows where it’s happening, what kind of transport it involves, and — most importantly — how its status has evolved over time. Was that new tram line just an idea last year? Has construction started yet? When did it get approved? All of that is recorded, with sources so you can verify the information yourself. The status of a project can be configured is JSON files on GitHub and is automatically built into a web app.

What’s covered

The tracker currently includes two kinds of projects:

• Neubau — brand-new infrastructure
• Reaktivierung — reopening lines that were closed down

Projects range from railways and light rail to buses, cable cars, and ferries — in short, anything that moves people sustainably.

Everyone can help

The project is open and community-driven. If you know of a project that’s missing, you can add it — either through the built-in editor on the website or by contributing directly. All it takes is a few details: what’s being built, where, and what’s happened so far.

Browse the live tracker web app at ruhrmobilitylabs.github.io/oepnv-projekt-tracker/ or explore what’s happening in your region and contribute it on GitHub at github.com/RuhrMobilityLabs/oepnv-projekt-tracker.

Technical details

The ÖPNV Projekt Tracker is built using Next.js. Projects are defined using JSON files which are joined into a single projects.json during the build process. All public transport projects are displayed on the home page and there is a details page for each individual project.

Furthermore, a llms.txt is provided at ruhrmobilitylabs.github.io/oepnv-projekt-tracker/llms.txt in Markdown format for better readability by chatbots. The full list of projects in JSON format is available at ruhrmobilitylabs.github.io/oepnv-projekt-tracker/projects.json.