Locating of rail vehicles

The invention relates to a method for operating a locating device (10), which comprises a waveguide (50) laid along a track segment (100) in order to locate a rail vehicle (110) on the track segment (100), wherein in the method, electromagnetic pulses (Pin) are fed into the waveguide (50) in succession and backscattering patterns (Rm, Rm') produced by backscattering of the electromagnetic pulse (Pin) are received and evaluated for each emitted pulse (Pin). According to the invention, a vibration device (70) located in the area of the track segment (100) at a known position is activated at a predefined activation time and a vibration (Me) causing backscattering of the electromagnetic pulse (Pin) is thereby produced at the known position, the duration between the activation time and the receipt of the backscattering pattern (Rme) indicating the vibration is measured, and the measured duration is used to check the functionality of the locating device (10) or to calibrate the locating device (10).