A system and method for reducing the fuel pressure in a fuel injection system after the internal combustion engine to be supplied has been shut off, in which a high fuel pressure built up in a high-pressure reservoir chamber (common rail) by a high-pressure feed pump, is relieved into the supply tank via control valves that control the injection event and are provided on the injection valves that communicate with the common rail. For purposes of this pressure relief, the control valves are triggered such that they connect a pressure chamber of the injection valve with the common rail or the supply tank so briefly that the pressure urging the valve member of the injection valves in the opening direction remains below an opening pressure of the injection valves, and this triggering process of the control valves is repeated until a desired pressure in the common rail is reached.