RAILWAY SCANNING

This page has not been updated in a long time but most of the frequencies remain unchanged.

As in other areas of North America there have been major abandonments and divestitures over the past 25 or 30 years. For example, all rail service is gone from Prince Edward Island and from southwestern Nova Scotia. Service in eastern New Brunswick and to Cape Breton Island has passed from Canadian National Railways to short-line operators. Similarly, service from Saint John into, and through, Maine has been sold by Canadian Pacific (CP Rail).

Before checking the frequency list I suggest checking this map showing all the railways left in the Maritimes, with the exception of localized industrial operations.

Please note however that the New Brunswick East Coast Railway and Matapedia Railway were sold back to CN in 2008. This line was prior to 1998 CN's second main line, and long before that the original Intercolonial Railway. In regard to frequencies it should be expected that the re-acquired lines will use the CN frequencies shown in the list.

Later update: The Windsor & Hantsport Railway, shown on the map below, and included in the frequency lists, is effectively abandoned. By that I mean that while the tracks remain, there has been no use of them for at least ten years (as of 2019), and presumably will never be put back into operation without complete rebuilding. This is unlikely but remotely possible, and therefore I will leave the map and listings as is for now.

Following is a chart of the VHF North American railway band channels and corresponding frequencies. Please note that individual railways may have both simplex and repeater channels. Repeater channels are made up of two different AAR channels, one for input to the repeater and one for the output (which is what you would listen to). Railways usually give their own channel numbers to the frequencies they use. For example, hypothetically, the Moncton Atlantic Railway might use AAR Channel 33 (160.605 MHz) for a simplex channel and call it their Channel 1. Then they might have a repeater channel made up of AAR 13 (160.305) and AAR 86 (161.4) and call it their Channel 2. They might even also have one using only AAR 13 as a simplex instead of in a repeater and maybe call it their Channel 3. In fact, most of the time if you have a conventional scanner it is easier to just go with the railway's own Channel numbers as identification, and of course the frequencies that go with them. On the other hand, dedicated railfans who travel and monitor many railroads, may prefer to use the AAR channels for identification. In addition there are some scanners I believe that have the AAR channels preloaded in a search bank and identify them on the display according to AAR numbers.

Please note that there is no longer a Channel 01. I have never seen any explanation of its demise or even what it was. Channels 02 to 06 are used only in Canada. In the USA those frequencies are allocated to other services. Note that from Channel 05 and upwards the spacing between channels is consistently 0.015 MHz (15 kHz).

There are also 400 MHz frequencies in use however these are not being used in the Maritimes, other than possibly for links. Industrial railways such as the gypsum loading facility in Dartmouth use business frequencies outside this dedicated railway band.

It may be of interest to note that frequencies from 36 upwards are used outside North America for the Marine VHF band. In North America the Railway Band takes precedence, and disallows the use of the high side of Marine Channels 1 to 19.

Freq	AAR Channel	Company Channel	Railway	Usage
160.050	AAR04		CAPE BRETON & CENTRAL NOVA SCOTIA	unknown use/possibly unused
160.050	AAR04	CN49	CN RAIL	YARD CHANNEL (Moncton & Halifax)
160.185	AAR05		CAPE BRETON & CENTRAL NOVA SCOTIA	unknown use/possibly unused
160.185	AAR05		NEW BRUNSWICK SOUTHERN	UNKNOWN USE
160.200	AAR06		VIA RAIL Also used by Marine Atlantic Newfoundland ferry service	ON-BOARD OPS
160.215	AAR07	CN82	CN RAIL	ENGINEERING (Fairview Jct to Sandy Cove)
160.245	AAR09		NEW BRUNSWICK SOUTHERN	UNKNOWN USE
160.245	AAR09		NEW BRUNSWICK EASTERN	RTC CAMPBELLTON CH 4
160.275	AAR11	CN84	CN RAIL	ENGINEERING (Truro to Folly Mountain)
160.275	AAR11	CN84	CN RAIL	ENGINEERING (Springhill Jct to Moncton)

160.305	AAR13	CN28	CN RAIL	RTC CALL-IN (Moncton to Saint John)
160.305	AAR13		DEVCO	ALL USES
160.335	AAR14	CP14	NEW BRUNSWICK SOUTHERN	UTILITY
160.355			VIA RAIL	STN OPERATIONS
160.365	AAR17	CN5	CN RAIL	TERMINAL SWITCHING HALIFAX
160.395	AAR19	CN31	CN RAIL	YARD CHANNEL MONCTON
160.425	AAR21		NEW BRUNSWICK SOUTHERN	UNKNOWN USE
160.455	AAR23	CN81	CN RAIL	ENGINEERING (Dartmouth Subdivision)
160.455	AAR23	CN81	CN RAIL	ENGINEERING (South Halifax)
160.455	AAR23	CN81	CN RAIL	ENGINEERING (Moncton Yards)
160.455	AAR23		NEW BRUNSWICK EASTERN SHORE	ENGINEERING (Newcastle to Jacquet River)
160.515	AAR27	CN83	CN RAIL	ENGINEERING (Sandy Cove to Truro)
160.515	AAR27	CN83	CN RAIL	ENGINEERING (Folly Mtn to Springhill Jct)
160.515	AAR27		NEW BRUNSWICK EASTERN SHORE	ENGINEERING (except where 160.455 used)
160.575	AAR31	CN90	CN RAIL, with 161.235	CN POLICE
160.665	AAR37	CN4	CN RAIL	RTC CALL-IN (Moncton & Halifax Yards)
160.725	AAR41	CN18	CN RAIL Also used by Marine Atlantic Newfoundland ferry and Bay Ferries Fundy services	YARD CHANNEL HALIFAX
160.755	AAR43		NEW BRUNSWICK SOUTHERN	YARD CHANNEL (Saint John & McAdam)
160.755	AAR43		WINDSOR & HANTSPORT	ENGINEERING
160.815	AAR47		WINDSOR & HANTSPORT	TRAINS
160.845	AAR49		NEW BRUNSWICK SOUTHERN	UNKNOWN USE
160.935	AAR55	CN3	CN RAIL	RTC CALL-IN (Dartmouth Subdivision)
160.935	AAR55	CN3	CN RAIL	RTC CALL-IN (Halifax to Windsor Jct)
160.935	AAR55	CN3	CN RAIL	RTC CALL-IN (Pacific Jct to Edmundston)
161.025	AAR61	CN8	CN RAIL	RTC CALL-IN (Windsor Jct to Truro)
161.025	AAR61	CN8	CN RAIL	RTC CALL-IN (Truro to Dieppe Jct)
161.025	AAR61	CN8	CN RAIL	RTC CALL-IN (Moncton Gordon Yards)
161.055	AAR63	CN29	CN RAIL	YARD CHANNEL HALIFAX
161.085	AAR65	CN30	CN RAIL	YARD CHANNEL MONCTON
161.115	AAR67	CP4	NEW BRUNSWICK SOUTHERN	TRAIN STANDBY
161.145	AAR69		DEVCO
161.175	AAR71	CP13	NEW BRUNSWICK SOUTHERN	ENGINEERING
161.205	AAR73	CN2	CN RAIL	RTC CALL-IN (Moncton East Side)
161.205	AAR73		NEW BRUNSWICK EASTERN SHORE	RTC CALL-IN
161.235	AAR75	CN90	CN RAIL, with 160.575	CN POLICE
161.265	AAR77		NEW BRUNSWICK SOUTHERN	UNKNOWN USE
161.310	AAR80		CAPE BRETON & CENTRAL NOVA SCOTIA	ALL USES
161.355	AAR83		WINDSOR & HANTSPORT	RTC CALL-IN
161.415	AAR87	CN1	CN RAIL	TRAIN STNADBY (all areas)
161.415	AAR87		NEW BRUNSWICK EASTERN SHORE	TRAIN STANDBY
161.445	AAR89		NEW BRUNSWICK EASTERN SHORE	Mainline ops Ch 1
161.475	AAR91		NEW BRUNSWICK SOUTHERN	RTC CALL-IN
161.505	AAR93	CN44	CN RAIL	YARD CHANNEL MONCTON
163.080			DEVCO

Click here for a chart produced in approximately 2004 showing usage of railway frequencies in the Maritimes. This should be substantially still current.

Ch	Frequency	Ch.	Frequency	Ch.	Frequency	Ch.	Frequency
02	159.810	26	160.500	50	160.860	74	161.220
03	159.930	27	160.515	51	160.875	75	161.235
04	160.050	28	160.530	52	160.890	76	161.250
05	160.185	29	160.545	53	160.905	77	161.265
06	160.200	30	160.560	54	160.920	78	161.280
07	160.215	31	160.575	55	160.935	79	161.295
08	160.230	32	160.590	56	160.950	80	161.310
09	160.245	33	160.605	57	160.965	81	161.325
10	160.260	34	160.620	58	160.980	82	161.340
11	160.275	35	160.635	59	160.995	83	161.355
12	160.290	36	160.650	60	161.010	84	161.370
13	160.305	37	160.665	61	161.025	85	161.385
14	160.320	38	160.680	62	161.040	86	161.400
15	160.335	39	160.695	63	161.055	87	161.415
16	160.350	40	160.710	64	161.070	88	161.430
17	160.365	41	160.725	65	161.085	89	161.445
18	160.380	42	160.740	66	161.100	90	161.460
19	160.395	43	160.755	67	161.115	91	161.475
20	160.410	44	160.770	68	161.130	92	161.490
21	160.425	45	160.785	69	161.145	93	161.505
22	160.440	46	160.800	70	161.160	94	161.520
23	160.455	47	160.815	71	161.175	95	161.535
24	160.470	48	160.830	72	161.190	96	161.550
25	160.485	49	160.845	73	161.205	97	161.565