Railroad Radio Communications

a system of communications used on railroads in operational control over train traffic, in station operations, in repair of track and power systems, and so on. Railroad radio communications use regional (or local) radio stations and on USSR railroads were first used at the end of the 1940’s. A distinction is made between train radio communications and switching or station radio communications. Train radio communications enable the dispatcher or individual on duty at the station to hold conversations with the locomotive engineer and also enable locomotive engineers to talk with each other. In station or switching radio communications, the switching dispatcher (the individual on duty at the station, the foreman of the switching work) can talk with engineers on switching locomotives; the personnel in the technical office can obtain information from car checkers; and personnel at technical inspection points can contact car inspectors. Train radio communications operate in the hectometer wave band in a simplex model on a single operating frequency of 2130 kilohertz. The locomotive transceiver is mounted in the locomotive cab, and stationary sets are mounted in the office of the person on duty at the station.

Station radio communications operate in the ultrashort-wave range at frequencies of 150 to 155 megahertz in simplex mode. Through a single stationary radio station the director of station operations maintains communications with several engineers of locomotives equipped with locomotive transceivers that can be contacted by an individual selector or group system. The individual on duty in the technical office contacts car checkers walking the length of trains. A stationary radio set is installed in the office premises, and the car checkers use portable sets. Railroad radio communications help increase traffic safety. All large stations have station radio communications, and about 60,000 km of the railroads in the USSR (1970) are equipped with train communications facilities.