The Ministry of Transport was created in 1945, superseding the Ministry of War Transport. From 1953-1959 it was known as the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation until Civil Aviation became a Ministry in its own right, thereafter reverting to the Ministry of Transport. In 1970 responsibility for Transport passed to the new Department of the Environment until 1976, when a Department of Transport was re-established. Between 1997-2002, Transport again became subsumed with Environment, before emerging as a separate department again in 2002.