A network element includes a plurality of ports interconnected by a switching fabric, wherein a port includes a plurality of connections including an infrastructure connection that operates a Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) session and a group of connections that share a similar fate for a fault as the infrastructure connection; and a controller configured to detect a fault on the infrastructure connection via the BFD session, and cause a protection switch for one or more of the group of connections based on the fault on the infrastructure connection. The infrastructure connection and the group of connections can be Pseudowires (PWE) or Label Switched Paths (LSPs) in a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) network.