In a label switching network, in normal times, packet transfer is performed using a protection-target label switching path set between a primary edge node device and a remote edge node device. Then, when a failure occurs in the primary edge node device, a secondary edge node device takes over the label switching path session from the primary edge node device and operates as the start-point node or the end-point node of the protection-target label switching path, to continue packet transfer using a backup label switching path.