A method of operating a spring-loaded drive of a medium-voltage switchgear system includes at least the following steps: measuring a drive current of an electric auxiliary drive for loading a drive spring of the spring-loaded drive of the medium-voltage switchgear system; loading the drive spring by the electric auxiliary drive; creating an evaluation data set in accordance with the measured drive current; comparing the evaluation data set with an expectation; and outputting a maintenance signal in accordance with a result of the comparison. There is also described a spring-loaded drive and a medium-voltage switchgear system having a spring-loaded drive of this type.