Train Radio Communication

the two-way continuous radio communication in the service system of railroad radio communication that is used by a train dispatcher and the assistant station masters to control the movement of trains and to assure traffic safety.

On USSR railroads train radio communication is carried on at a frequency of 2.13 megahertz in a simplex mode with group selective calling. A train radio communication system is being developed that can use the meter range of wavelengths. The systems in foreign countries generally use the meter and decimeter ranges.

A train radio communication system makes it possible for the assistant station masters to call locomotive engineers and talk with them by means of stationary radio stations. For minimum radio interference in the operation of such a system the usual antennas are replaced by guide wires (bimetallic wires specially suspended for the purpose) or by the electric power lines and aerial communication lines running along the railroad. The dispatcher communicates with a locomotive engineer over a selective telephone calling system on a channel between the dispatching point and the railroad station closest to the locomotive and from there by means of stationary sets that are remotely controlled by the dispatcher. In the USSR in 1974, more than 100,000 km of railroad were equipped with train radio communication.