Frequencies

This is what you have come for - the frequencies!  

First, a little review. This is covered in other sections, but is worth another look. 

Railway communications typically take place in three frequency bands. The main band is located in the VHF-hi band, between 159.810 MHz and 161.565 MHz, spaced in 15 KHz increments. Railway communications can also be found in the 400 MHz UHF band, carrying both voice and data for various applications. In some cases and applications, you can find railways using the 800-900 MHz band for various uses. For the most part, you'll find most communications in VHF and UHF.

For a good list of North America's railroad frequency allocations, visit the Railroad Radio site by clicking on the signal head!

A train's EOT (End of Train) devices operate on two specifically designated frequencies: 452.9375MHz and 457.9375 MHz. As it was stated elsewhere in this website, these are handy for tracking trains that are out of sight (around a bend, in the distance, etc.) If a train is within about a kilometer, you can hear the squawks of the EOT system communicating with itself. The system sends out a transmission every 30 seconds or so.

Also note - Canadian Railroads don't use all of the allocated frequencies - each railroad is allocated specific channels by the AAR.



Canadian National Railway 

GExR
Goderich & Exeter Railway

St. Lawrence & Hudson Railway

Important Note about CP Rail frequencies:
It took me a while to figure this out - and I kind of understand it, so if you are totally confused by the end of this section, you aren't alone. Anyways, here goes: In order to call RTC, trains must switch to the call-in channel, hit their PTT button on their radios five times in a second, wait for some answerback tones, and switch back to the Train Standby to wait for the dispatcher. The call-in frequencies are unique married pairs to the train standby channels. It may appear that channels 3,6,8,9 are the same (160.425 MHz) - until one realizes they are duplex channels, in that they have different input and output frequencies. The input frequencies in these channels are the different, but the output is the same as the Train Standby frequency in which they are associated with. This means that you don't need to put the call-in frequencies into their scanners -  they can hear everything that goes on just by listening to the Train Standby channel. Besides, all that goes on on the RTC call-in are beeps and clicks, so its not really worth the bother of entering them -  I've posted them here just for completion's sake.  

I've included a subdivision-specific table first, and then a complete list of frequencies afterwards.

GO Transit
Note: During rail operations, GO Trains use existing CN/CP frequencies for all communications.

VIA Rail Canada
Note: During rail operations, VIA trains use existing CN/CP frequencies for all communications.

All channels below are repeaters. Frequencies listed are output channels, which will carry both sides of the conversation.