PROTECTION SWITCHING METHOD AND NODE

Embodiments of the present invention disclose a protection switching method, including: when a fault occurs on a working trail between a first end node and a second end node, sending, by the first end node, a first protection switching request message to an intermediate node, where a protection trail of the working trail includes the first end node, the second end node, and at least one intermediate node; and receiving, by the first end node, a second protection switching request message from the intermediate node, and switching service data to the protection trail for transmission, where one overhead frame of the first protection switching request message and the second protection request message includes at least two overhead information groups, and the overhead information group includes a request type field, a request signal identifier field, and a bridge flag field. One overhead frame of the first protection switching request message and the second protection request message can indicate overheads of two timeslots, so that overhead resource utilization is improved.