The MOIN project was launched to create a unified, interoperable intermodal routing system that could be used across Germany’s public transport and private vehicle networks. Its core objective was to eliminate the fragmented data sources that currently hinder cross‑border and inter‑regional travel, thereby improving the competitiveness of public transport against private cars. The initiative was carried out by a consortium led by the German Aerospace Center’s Institute of Traffic System Technology (DLR TS) in partnership with the German Association of the Transport Industry (VDV) and several other stakeholders from the transport sector. The project ran over a multi‑year period, with key milestones and a quarterly status reporting structure that kept the steering committee and the public informed. Funding was provided by the German federal government through the DLR, with additional support from the VDV and regional transport authorities.

On the technical side, MOIN focused on building a robust data ingestion pipeline that could handle the widely used OpenStreetMap (OSM) and General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) formats. The team discovered that the quality of the supplied data was often insufficient, which required additional resources for data import and subsequent validation. The integration of decentralized data systems such as DELFI proved to be more time‑consuming than initially planned. Despite these challenges, the project succeeded in creating a modular routing core written in C++. The core implements several well‑known algorithms: the classic Dijkstra algorithm for time‑dependent networks, the A* algorithm that uses Euclidean distance and maximum vehicle speed as heuristics, and contraction‑hierarchies (CH) for efficient multi‑query performance. A specialised CH‑wrapper performs separate preprocessing for each vehicle class, thereby enhancing routing speed in multimodal networks. The use of landmark tables in A* and the time‑slice preprocessing in CH reduce search times by significant factors, although the report does not provide explicit numerical benchmarks. The modular design, coupled with a SWIG interface, allows the routing engine to be exposed to other programming languages, exemplified by a Java implementation. This flexibility ensures that the system can be deployed in arbitrarily large geographic areas, provided the necessary hardware and infrastructure are available.

The routing core was integrated into the open‑source microscopic traffic simulator SUMO. The resulting intermodal router was documented in a tutorial published in the journal Signal‑Draht (Q4 2018) and made available through the MOIN project portal. Users can immediately run the Leipzig scenario “leipzig_sumo_big3” to test the routing functionality. The integration with SUMO not only demonstrates the practical applicability of the developed algorithms but also provides a valuable tool for researchers and planners to evaluate multimodal travel scenarios.

Collaboration within MOIN was structured around a clear governance model. The project lead coordinated planning, communication, and resource allocation, while the core team managed sub‑project leaders and performed project controlling. Each work package—ranging from customer‑centric front‑end design to data modelling and performance‑oriented routing—was assigned to a dedicated team responsible for timely delivery and reporting. Regular monthly status reports and quarterly steering‑committee updates ensured transparency and allowed for adaptive planning, especially in response to data‑quality issues and delayed data provision from partners.

In summary, MOIN delivered a technically advanced, modular intermodal routing engine that leverages proven algorithms and integrates seamlessly with existing simulation tools. The project’s collaborative framework, supported by federal funding and industry partners, enabled the successful completion of its objectives and laid the groundwork for future extensions such as the “Keep‑Moving” intermodal travel assistant and broader integration into national and international transport platforms.