Transport in New South Wales

An extensive multi-modal transport system serves the state of New South Wales, Australia. The lead government agency responsible for the network's operation and development is the New South Wales Ministry of Transport. The Minister for Transport is John Watkins. The Minister for Roads is Eric Roozendaal.

Road

The Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) is a New South Wales Government agency responsible for major road infrastructure, licensing of drivers, and registration of motor vehicles. The RTA directly manages State roads and provides funding to local councils for regional and local roads. In addition, with assistance from the Federal Government, the RTA also manages the NSW national highway system.Across the state, the RTA manages 4787 bridges and 17,623 km of State Roads and Highways including 3105 km of National Highways.

Rail

During the 20th century the railways have always been run by a state-owned entity, which has undergone a number of different minor name changes, including New South Wales Railways and New South Wales Government Railways. The current entity responsible for running the New South Wales railways is Rail Corporation New South Wales which includes CityRail and CountryLink. It also ran freight services until 2001, when this business was taken over by Pacific National. Since 2003, the NSW interstate and Hunter Valley rail corridors, and the dedicated metropolitan freight lines to the Sydney ports have been under the control of the Australian Rail Track Corporation, and it also maintains other rural branch lines under contract to Rail Corporation New South Wales.

Public transport

According to the New South Wales State Plan, the state has Australia's largest public transport system. Indeed, in the 1920s, Sydney also boasted the Southern Hemisphere's largest tram network. Public transport in Sydney accounts for almost double the share of commuter journeys in other state capitals. The network is regulated by the New South Wales Ministry of Transport, which is working towards an integrated network serving Sydney, Newcastle, the Central Coast, the Blue Mountains, Wollongong and the Illawarra.

Taxis

New South Wales is served by a fleet of around 6000 taxis. The industry employs over 22,000 taxi drivers. The network is largest in Australia. Most taxis are Ford Falcons, although a smaller number of Holden Commodores, Ford Fairlanes, Holden Statesmans and Toyota Camrys are in service. In general, taxis are required to run on liquid petroleum gas fuel. In general, individual taxis are owned by small-scale operators who pay membership fees to regional or citywide radio communication networks. These networks provide branding as well as telephone and internet booking services to operators and drivers.

Air

Major airports are located at
*Sydney Airport in Sydney
*Williamtown Airport in Newcastle

Smaller regional airports are listed at List of airports in Australia. Over he past 30 years there have been various moves towards a Second Sydney Airport.

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Major seaport facilities are located at
*Port Jackson, in central Sydney
*Port Botany, in Sydney's south
*Port Kembla, south of Wollongong
*Port of Newcastle, at Newcastle, north of Sydney

Regional ports at Eden and Yamba are administered by the New South Wales Maritime Authority. [cite web | year = 2006 | url = http://www.yamba.nsw.gov.au/ | title = Port of Yamba| work = New South Wales Regional Ports | publisher = New South Wales Maritime Authority | accessdate = 2006-12-14] [cite web | year = 2006 | url = http://www.eden.nsw.gov.au/ | title = Port of Eden | work = New South Wales Regional Ports | publisher = New South Wales Maritime Authority | accessdate = 2006-12-14]

The Maritime Authority is also the marine transport regulator and determines speed limits, safety standards and licence conditions for the operation of commercial and recreational vessels in NSW harbours and coastal waters.

References

External links

* [http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/ New South Wales Ministry of Transport]