The "sawing lines" in the book timetable indicate how many hand brakes must be drawn in the train, if there is a breakdown in the free range. Thus, they have a direct connection to the effective slope (slope or gradient).

There are two calculation rules for sawing lines known to us: one formerly valid for the DRG and the DB until today, and a second for the DR (of the GDR). In FBS, the sample and DR / VND formats work according to the DR rule and the other formats according to the DRG / DB rule.

The DR rule said:
- at > 25 per mill = 3 sawing lines,
- at > 10 per mill = 2 sawing lines,
- at > 5 per mill = 1 saw line,
- otherwise no saw line,
which can be read in the DV408 of the DR §89 (6), from 1970 §54 (5). The DR sawing lines were indicated to the left of the railway stations.

The rule of the DRG and the DB states: Each completed 10 per mill is marked by a sawing line, but no more than two sawing lines in total (see e.g. in Ril457.0401.2 (3)). More than two saw lines do not exist, since you have to put almost all hand brakes on with two sawing lines. The application of the sawing lines is currently specified by Ril408.0681.5 (2).

It should be added that since the beginning of the 1980s, the DR has no longer indicated any sawing lines in the actual driver's timetables, but only in the preliminary remarks. This seems comprehensible, since in the rare cases of the longer-term lying on the open route it can certainly be expected to look at a special place (e.g. in the preliminary remarks). Printing this rarely used information on any page of the driver's timetable is certainly quite bureaucratic.

The German FV-NE comes without any sawing lines. §58 (3) and its Annex III regulate how many hand brakes are to be used for the retention of vehicles. Here, the train crew must be aware of the appropriate inclination in order to determine the correct number of hand brakes. It may seem questionable whether the train crew is always aware of the correct context in the event of a fault; on the other hand, it should be remembered that these are only cases in which a train remains so long that the compressed air escapes from the brake cylinders by leaks, the engine cannot feed in additional air and no other engine is available ...

Driver's timetable formats according to FV-NE therefore contain no sawing lines. It is also remarkable in this context that in Germany, with the same inclination, depending on the validity of the FV-NE or DB directive, a different number of manual brakes must be applied.

The calculation of the number of saw lines by FBS can be easily controlled by calling the driver's timetable menu --> Calculation of the required parking brake capacity in a driver's working timetable.