A method of switching a route path of a ring network having a plurality of route paths for signal transmission, in which a transmission station on a transmission side transmits information of a same content to said plurality of route paths, a transmission station on a reception side selects one of the plurality of route paths, and a failure on the selected route path is automatically retrieved. The method includes the steps of: monitoring whether a signal received on each route path is normal or not; loading failure information as a path status identifier in a predetermined field of the signal received on each route path, the failure information indicating whether the monitoring step has detected a failure; and selecting one of the plurality of route paths in accordance with the failure information and predetermined logic.