A method and apparatus for facilitating an activity switch between a plurality of redundant routing modules in a network element is disclosed. Lower layer protocol packets, each encapsulating a higher layer protocol packet, are received at a lower layer task of a first routing module. The method first determines a peer network element In response to failure of a higher layer protocol task of the first routing module. The higher layer and lower layer protocol sessions between a second routing module and the peer network element are terminated following the determination of the peer network element, wherein the second routing module functions as a backup of the first routing module. The method then initiates a switchover from the first routing module to the second routing module of the network element.