This invention provides an optical path fault recovery method by which an end point node of an active path having received fault notification issues a resource securing request message transferred hop by hop to a start point node along the standby path. In the case where resources of the standby path are secured, when the resources are used by the extra traffic, the nodes on the standby path and the start point node that have received the message release the extra traffic and then secure the resources. When the resource securing request message reaches the start point node, the start point node issues a switch changeover request message, and the end point node, the start point node, and the nodes on the standby path set switches according to the secured resources.