A transport management system receives a request for a planned interruption in an optical network, and identifies transport equipment of the optical network affected by the planned interruption. The transport management system selectively sends a notification, from the network device, the identified transport equipment affected by the planned interruption, including a scheduled time of the planned interruption and a duration associated with the planned interruption, where the notification enables the notified transport equipment to buffer data to be transmitted on links affected by the planned interruption for the notified duration of the planned interruption.