Looking at the back side of the two intercom control switches it's easy to see why the contacts get so dirty over the years. The contacts are completely exposed to the wall cavity.
The red arrows point to the return spring for the operation lever. This spring can break without warning and the lever will no longer return to its center position. This may cause the system to seem to stop working.
The spring is part of the switch and the switch is no longer available. The best solution is to install a used switch form a donor unit. Even with that option, replacing the switch can take 1 hour to complete.