A communication network is provided having source and destination switching routers connected by two different communication paths. A primary label switched path is established on one of the communication paths and a secondary label switched path is established on the other label switched path. The source switching router can be enabled to place one or more data flows within the primary label switched path and can be enabled to place one or more of the same data flows within the secondary label switched path. The destination switching router stores a label identifying each data flow and a forwarding instruction and can be enabled to reference data carried within the primary or secondary LSP with the appropriate data flow label.