Bahndauer

Bahndauer is a term used in railway engineering and timetable planning to denote the duration associated with a rail service or its assets. The word is a German compound of Bahn (railway) and Dauer (duration), and its precise meaning varies with context within the industry.

In practice, Bahndauer can refer to different concepts. One common interpretation is the end-to-end journey time of a train service, including scheduled running times between stations and mandatory dwell times at stops. Another interpretation is the time a particular track section, signal block, or platform is occupied by a train, which is important for capacity analysis and conflict resolution on busy networks.

Bahndauer is often used in timetable optimization and capacity planning to estimate slot utilization, platform occupancy, and turnover times. It interacts with related metrics such as Fahrzeit (driving time between stations), Aufenthaltszeit (stopp time at a station), and Gesamtdauer (overall service duration). Because the term is not standardized across operators or regions, practitioners may use Bahndauer in slightly different ways or prefer alternative terms in official documents.

In summary, Bahndauer serves as a broad reference to the time dimension of railway operations, encompassing both end-to-end travel duration and the occupancy of track or station resources. Its exact definition depends on the operational context and the conventions of the railway organization using the term. Related concepts include Fahrzeit, Reisezeit, and Aufenthaltszeit.