NOC 72604: Railway traffic controllers and marine traffic regulators

Railway traffic controllers coordinate passenger and freight train traffic on railways. They are employed by rail transport companies. Marine traffic regulators monitor and regulate coastal and inland marine traffic within assigned waterways. They are employed by port, harbour, canal and lock authorities and by the Canadian Coast Guard.

Express Entry eligibility

• Skilled work (TEER 0 to 3): yes, TEER 2.
• Canadian Experience Class: counts as skilled Canadian work (1 year in the last 3 years).
• Federal Skilled Worker Program: counts as skilled work (1 year of continuous work in the last 10 years).
• Federal Skilled Trades Program: not one of the eligible trades.
• High-wage occupation (from November 3, 2026): yes, 1.5× tier.

TEER 2: Occupations that usually need a college diploma, an apprenticeship of 2 or more years, or supervisory duties. Every program has other requirements too, such as language test results and, for FSW, a points test.

Category-based draws

NOC 72604 is not on any of IRCC’s occupation category lists. You can still be invited in general, Canadian Experience Class or other program draws.

Category lists checked on canada.ca on 2026-10-17. IRCC category-based selection

CRS points for work in NOC 72604

With 12+ months of Canadian work here, from November 3, 2026, by years of skilled Canadian work:

See Canadian work points and the median-wage rule.

Main duties

This group performs some or all of the following duties:

• Railway traffic controllers
• Operate and monitor centralized traffic control systems to coordinate and follow railway traffic
• Chart train movements, calculate arrival and departure times and record rail traffic information
• Issue instructions to control the movement of passenger and freight train traffic and on-track mobile maintenance equipment
• Receive, record and relay train instructions to train crew by hand or radio telephone
• May supervise and train other railway traffic controllers.
• Marine traffic regulators
• Direct and monitor vessel movements using radar or closed circuit monitors, remote radio systems and other telecommunication equipment
• Obtain position, course, speed and estimated arrival time of vessels and monitor vessel progress through traffic zone
• Issue clearance instructions to vessels, advise vessels of traffic volumes and weather conditions, and relay information to next marine traffic control sector
• Report accidents, distress signals, navigational hazards and other emergencies to authorities
• Maintain radio and telephone contact with adjacent marine control sectors and with vessels within area of jurisdiction
• Maintain log of vessel movements, size and structure.

For Express Entry your duties must match the lead statement and most of the main duties above.

Example job titles

• chief rail traffic controller
• marine traffic regulator
• rail traffic controller
• train operator

Employment requirements

• Railway traffic controllers usually require completion of secondary school and several years of experience in the railway industry.
• Up to 35 weeks of a combination of classroom and on-the-job training is provided for railway traffic controllers.
• Railway traffic controllers require a Canadian Rail Operating Rules certificate.
• Marine traffic regulators require completion of secondary school and several months of formal traffic regulator training.

Similar jobs with a different code

• 70012Harbour master
• 72024Subway traffic controller
• 72023Supervisors, railway transport operations