A cooling system (2) for cooling metal rolling stock. A plurality of cooling bars (8) for applying a coolant onto the rolling stock, one dedicated coolant supply line (36) for each cooling bar (8), and a feed system (9) for guiding the coolant to the coolant supply lines (36). Each cooling bar (8) is connected to the feed system (9) via a dedicated coolant supply line (36). A bypass line (48, 52) for discharging a coolant flow from the feed system (9), is connected on the input side to a connection element (51, 53) of the feed system (9).