The city is the administrative centre of the Central Coast region, which is the third largest urban area in New South Wales after Sydney and Newcastle.

This can be attributed to a lower cost of living, lack of employment and educational opportunities in the area, lifestyle factors and the development of strong transport links like the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway and Cityrail's Newcastle and Central Coast railway line.

East Coast runs inter-city express services on the East Coast Main Line to Peterborough, Doncaster, Leeds, Wakefield, Lincoln, Hull, York, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle Central, Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Central, Dundee, Aberdeen, Perth and Inverness.

These run to Newcastle and the Central Coast, the Blue Mountains, the Southern Highlands and the South Coast.

All of services are provided by CrossCountry, with trains between Cardiff Central, Birmingham, and Nottingham, as well as longer-distance services to destinations such as Bristol Temple Meads, Leeds and Newcastle.

The first series, co-produced by Witzend Productions and Central Television for ITV in 1983, is the story of seven out-of-work builders from various parts of Britain who are forced to look for work in West Germany, although it focuses primarily on three men from Newcastle upon Tyne making the journey to Germany, with the others being introduced along the way.

Morisset railway station, located on Dora Street, is linked to Sydney and Newcastle by CityRail services on the Newcastle and Central Coast Line, and to Maitland and towns further north by CountryLink services on the Main North Line.

Flooded shopping malls were evacuated, Newcastle Central station was shut, as was the Tyne and Wear Metro, and main road routes were flooded leading to massive tailbacks.

* March-May 2012: " Very Quiet " intercity train services are introduced between Central and Newcastle.

Students come from a wide variety of socio-economic backgrounds but predominantly from the inner-city areas within Gateshead and Central and West Newcastle upon Tyne.

Tyne and Wear Metro stations at Gateshead Interchange and Gateshead Stadium provide direct light-rail access to Newcastle Central Station, Newcastle International Airport, Sunderland, Tynemouth and South Shields.

The East Coast Main Line, which runs from London to Edinburgh, cuts directly through the town on its way between Newcastle Central and Chester-le-Street stations.

Initially produced from an office in Forth Lane, near to Newcastle Central station, it moved to the City Road studios when Dickens Press took over publication in 1963.

* Gosforth Central Middle School in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne, England

The township today consists of small scattered local shops and businesses along the Pacific Highway, as well as the Central Coast campus of the University of Newcastle.

Entrance of Newcastle University, Central Coast Campus.

The University of Newcastle has a major presence on the Central Coast at Ourimbah through a multi-sector co-located partnership of the University and TAFE NSW-Hunter Institute.

The University of Newcastle commenced teaching at the Ourimbah Campus, also known as the Central Coast Campus, in 1989.

The Tyne and Wear Metro is a light rail system connecting the area with the rest of the Tyne and Wear conurbation, including Sunderland and Newcastle Central Station and Newcastle International Airport.

CrossCountry run a small number of services ( departing in the morning, arriving in the evening ) to Glasgow Central via Bristol, Birmingham New Street, Manchester Piccadilly, also to Dundee via Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds, York, Newcastle Central and Edinburgh Waverley.

In 2007, the Gold Coast overtook the population of Newcastle, New South Wales to become the sixth largest city in Australia and the largest non-capital city.

Gold Coast can be reached from Brisbane by Pacific Motorway M1 ( blue ) and Pacific Highway ( Highway 1 ) from Sydney and Newcastle.

Coffs Harbour is also one of many regional cities along the Pacific Highway between Newcastle and The Gold Coast.

SBS expanded to Brisbane, Adelaide, Newcastle, Wollongong and the Gold Coast in the June of that year.

By 2004 its fleet had expanded to five Boeing 737-300 aircraft and it was providing direct non-stop services to the Australian cities of Brisbane, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Sydney and Melbourne from Hamilton, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Palmerston North.

ScotRail operates some services that venture south of the border: principally the Caledonian Sleeper to London Euston along the West Coast Main Line, and a twice-daily cross-country service between Newcastle upon Tyne and Stranraer via Carlisle and Kilmarnock.

The network extended from Carlisle and Newcastle in the north to Scarborough, Hull and Cleethorpes on the east coast down to Sheffield and across to Manchester, Liverpool, Blackpool and Morecambe on the West Coast.

* East Coast Main Line, the electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

Thirty-five of the class were built to haul express passenger trains on the East Coast Main Line route from London Kings Cross via York and Newcastle to Edinburgh, Scotland.

The East Coast Main Line runs through Newark North Gate railway station providing links to London, Leeds, Newcastle upon Tyne and Edinburgh.

Traffic to Coventry, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Scotland would be routed through the West Coast Main Line running to Carlisle and Glasgow ; traffic to the north-east would be concentrated through the East Coast Main Line which was to be closed north of Newcastle ; and traffic to Wales and the West Country would go on the Great Western Main Line, then to Swansea and Plymouth.

The Cumbrian Coast Line provides rail connections from Workington railway station to Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, with occasional through trains to Newcastle, Lancaster and Preston.

Traffic to Coventry, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Scotland would be routed through the West Coast Main Line running to Carlisle and Glasgow ; traffic to the north-east would be concentrated through the East Coast Main Line which was to be closed north of Newcastle ; and traffic to Wales and the West Country would go on the Great Western Main Line, then to Swansea and Plymouth.

* The 1988 NSWRL season sees the debuts of three new franchises: Brisbane Broncos, Gold Coast Chargers and Newcastle Knights.

In September 1825 the works at Forth Street, Newcastle completed the first locomotive for the new railway: originally named Active, it was soon renamed Locomotion.

A statue of George dressed in classical robes stands in Neville Street, Newcastle, facing the building that houses the Literary and Philosophical Society and the Mining Institute, and near to Newcastle railway station.

* Newcastle railway station opened on 25 March 1869 and finally closed on 2 May 1955.

* Manors railway station, Newcastle upon Tyne, England

The long distance regional services connecting Sunderland, Newcastle, Scarborough and Hull with Manchester, Liverpool and Blackpool North railway station were operated under the TransPennine Express banner, the rest as Arriva Trains Northern.

The arrival of the railway from Newcastle in the 1850s, coupled with the increasing silting of the river and larger ships spelt the end of the traditional river traffic.

The train service was replaced by a bus service which connects Toronto with Fassifern railway station. Train services operating from Fassifern include services to Sydney and Newcastle as well as the XPT service to Brisbane.

In 1850 the railway from London to Scotland via Newcastle was completed.

Washington is therefore one of the largest towns in Britain without an operational railway station ( see Dudley, Newcastle under Lyme and Gosport ).

Chester-le-Street railway station, on the East Coast Main Line of the National Rail network, between Newcastle and Durham, opened in 1868.

The Stephensons established a locomotive works near Forth Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, to manufacture locomotives for the new railway.

Kilmarnock also has its own railway station which operates services from the town to all major locations in Scotland and as far as Carlisle and Newcastle in England.

Its popularity with holidaymakers was helped by the opening of the North Tyne Loop railway line in 1882, connecting the coastal villages to Newcastle.

Ipswich and Newcastle Streets as well as the Monaro Highway cross the railway line uniting both halves of Fyshwick.

The town is served by Hexham railway station on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, also known as the Tyne Valley Line.

The new standard-gauge railway has stations at Tennant Creek and Katherine, plus passing loops at Illoquara and Newcastle Waters.

The East Coast Main Line ( ECML ) is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh.