Reservelinien

Reservelinien are lines within a transportation or utility network that are kept available as backup capacity for contingencies. They are not normally used in routine operations but can be activated to maintain service during maintenance works, incidents, or peak demand. A reservelinie may be a physical parallel track, an alternative routing, or a planned detour that can be deployed when the primary route is blocked or overburdened.

Purpose and use

The primary purpose of reservelinien is to increase resilience and reliability of the network. They allow traffic to be diverted away from damaged or restricted sections, support maintenance windows with minimal disruption, and provide additional capacity during events that increase demand. In rail systems, for example, a reservelinie can serve as a temporary diversion route for trains when the main line is unavailable. In other networks, such as road or utility grids, reserve routes or circuits can be similarly used to preserve service continuity.

Design and operation

Reservelinien are typically planned and funded as part of network resilience and capacity management. They are kept ready for activation by operations centers and must be integrated with signaling, safety, and maintenance procedures. Because they are not used in normal operations, reservelinien require regular inspection and testing and may have specific operating restrictions or speed limits when activated.

Relation to other concepts

Reservelinien are related to detour routes, contingency planning, and alternate capacity management. They complement regular maintenance planning and incident response to improve system reliability and service continuity.

See also: detour, resilience planning, capacity management, routing and signaling, contingency routing.