Ontario has over 8,000 miles of railway track.

Ontario has more than 44,640 miles of paved highways and freeways that are fully integrated with those in the U.S.

Located in the heart of North America, Ontario businesses have easy access to prosperous consumer and industrial markets. The province has an up-to-date, integrated transportation infrastructure, including highways, commuter and urban public transit, province-wide and internationally connected railways, worldwide cargo aviation systems and among the most extensive in-land and international marine shipping facilities anywhere.

The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Canada's transportation infrastructure as #1 relative to other G-7 countries in 2001-2005.

Manufacturers located in Ontario are close to major North American industrial markets. Ontario shares 15 border crossings with the U.S., by road, rail and water.

Major National Highways

Almost 40 per cent of the population of North America is within one day's drive of Southern Ontario. Ontario has an extensive, 72,000 kilometre (45,000 mile) network of paved roads and highways, including 4-lane highways, with advanced freeway traffic management systems to improve efficiency and safety. Highway 401 runs from Windsor, Ontario to Montreal, Quebec, with a minimum of 4 lanes; up to 14 lanes service Metro Toronto. The 14-lane section of the 401 is the second most travelled superhighway in North America.

Ontario has an extremely competitive trucking industry. Some two-thirds of the value of all Ontario exports move by truck. Cross border truck trips have increased around five per cent a year for the last 18 years. In 2001 Ontario joined the International Registration Plan (IRP) with strong support from the truck and bus companies based in the province. The IRP provides blanket registration for trucks and buses as an alternative to individual (reciprocity agreements, and distributes truck and bus registration fees among member jurisdictions based on the number of kilometers carriers travel in other jurisdictions.

Border compliance information is available through Industry Canada at www.strategis.ic.gc.ca/logistics

Ontario provides financial and technological assistance to municipalities toward the provision of public transit services. More than 95 per cent of the province's residents have access to municipal transit. The province was the first jurisdiction in North America to develop and introduce natural gas powered buses into transit service.

Transcontinental railway lines provide freight service to eastern and western Canada and to the U.S. The Ontario rail system has over 13,351 kilometres (8,296 miles) of track. Passenger train service is provided by VIA Rail in Ontario and across Canada while Amtrak provides connection to the U.S. The Government of Ontario's GO Transit provides intercity commuter rail and bus services to people in the Greater Toronto Area and some surrounding communities.

Ontario has over 60 airports receiving scheduled flights and 20 that can service jet aircraft. Ontario airports service 40 per cent of total national passenger traffic.

Toronto's Lester B. Pearson International Airport is Canada's largest, serving approximately 25 million passengers annually. It ranks fourth in North America by the number of international passengers. Pearson provides direct service to 43 U.S. markets daily and over 42 countries worldwide. Pearson handles almost 400,000 tonnes of cargo annually. Over 65 international airlines provide scheduled service and a number of additional airlines provide charter services on a seasonal basis.

The Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway, a 3,747 km (2,342 mile) system of locks, deep water canals and natural water connecting Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean, has 95,000 square miles of navigable waters and serves the water borne cargo needs of 17 American states and 4 Canadian provinces.

Ontario has 33 cargo loading ports on the Canadian Coast Guard managed system, and there are several more private ports in Ontario.

Ontario's communications networks are efficient, affordable and among the best in world. Ontario firms are leaders in communications technologies, including telecommunications, broadcasting, satellite and space technologies, short and long-distance telephone, fibre optics and terminal equipment such as private business exchanges (PBXs) and customer premises equipment (CPE).

Telecommunications companies in Ontario offer a full range of voice and data telecommunications services including public and private line services and long distance - message toll and 800/888 service. Wireless services, including cellular telephone, radio-telephone (exchange or high frequency), PCS (personal communications services), multichannel multipoint distribution systems (MMDS) and LMCS (local multipoint communications services) are also available in the province. Public and private telecommunications networks also provide a number of enhanced calling features, such as call-waiting, call-forwarding, call-management and speed dialling; emergency call service (911) and special assistance to persons with disabilities.

Canada is ahead of the U.S. in digitization and has maintained its position relative to other industrialized nations. The conversion to digital technology is almost 100 per cent. Canada has also constructed the longest terrestrial fibre optic network in the world using state-of-the-art design, manufacturing capability and construction methods.

A full range of business-related data communications networks and services are available in Ontario, including electronic mail, local area networks (LANs), telex, wide area networks (WANs), public message service, public databases, facsimile, and paging services.