Techniques are described for establishing a second label switched path (LSP) instance of an LSP having a first LSP instance. In one example, for each downstream router designated for the second LSP instance of the LSP, the router determines whether the router is part of the first instance of the LSP and, if so, whether the first and second LSP instances for that downstream router share a common link to a nexthop router. If the first and second LSP instances share a common link to a nexthop router, the downstream router transmits a first message to the nexthop router, wherein the first message includes a suggested label. The downstream router receives, from the nexthop router, a second message, wherein the second message includes the suggested label. In another example, a label reuse indicator flag in a message from the ingress router causes routers on the second LSP instance to reuse the label of the first LSP instance when the same link is used to the upstream router for both LSP instances.