A call barrier secures a railway crossing that is rarely used by road users, which is usually located in a remote area and often cannot be seen by the responsible barrier attendant.
The barriers are generally closed and are only opened when necessary - if this is possible without danger (see § 11 (17) EBO)
If a road user wants to pass through such a railway crossing, he reports to the barrier attendant on duty via an intercom.
The barrier attendant then opens the barrier - after possible consultation with the dispatchers who are responsible for the track section to the left or right of the crossing - if the train traffic allows it or announces the opening via the intercom.
Since he cannot usually see the railway crossing, the user is asked to report the evacuation to the attendant.
In exceptional cases, the guard may listen to the noises at the level crossing via the intercom and then close the barriers again.
Before closing the barriers, he announces the closing via the intercom. Rarely, one or more cameras are also installed to ensure greater safety.
Level crossings over which herds of cattle have to be driven can be designed differently.
Here, a sliding barrier is pushed over the track so that the cattle do not escape over the track.
In the federal railways area, there were still 482 call barriers in mid-2020.
This is 3.1 percent of the total of 15,391 level crossings.
In the long term, call barriers should no longer be approved for reasons of economic efficiency; they should gradually be secured by secured level crossings through barrier monitoring or a danger zone clearance system and backlog detection.
(Source: Wikipedia)