brake pad is not a bad option, i looked for kachel and usually it refers to tiles that you put on a wall in a house for instance, especially in the kitchen, that look like the tiles that you see on the walls in subways.

It could also be the middle panel at a crossing - in other words the panel in between the tracks, which along with the ones on the side, bring the road up to the highest level of the tracks.

Alternatively, it could simply refer to the railway "panels" (see 1st ref) as in the wooden panels that keep the tracks equidistant at all points. So the panels in the middle, in other words just not the ones at the ends.