diff --git a/image_pusher/TCPStreamPusher.cpp b/image_pusher/TCPStreamPusher.cpp
index 7d8fb88d..c013d3cc 100644
--- a/image_pusher/TCPStreamPusher.cpp
+++ b/image_pusher/TCPStreamPusher.cpp
@@ -42,8 +42,14 @@ void TCPStreamPusher::StartDataCollection(StartMessage &message) {
         serializer.SerializeSequenceStart(message);
         socket[i]->SetRunNumber(run_number);
 
-        if (!socket[i]->Send(serialization_buffer.data(), serializer.GetBufferSize(), TCPFrameType::START))
-            throw JFJochException(JFJochExceptionCategory::InputParameterInvalid, "Timeout/failure sending START");
+        if (!socket[i]->Send(serialization_buffer.data(), serializer.GetBufferSize(), TCPFrameType::START)) {
+            // one-shot recovery: reconnect and retry START once
+            if (!socket[i]->AcceptConnection(std::chrono::seconds(5)) ||
+                !socket[i]->Send(serialization_buffer.data(), serializer.GetBufferSize(), TCPFrameType::START)) {
+                throw JFJochException(JFJochExceptionCategory::InputParameterInvalid,
+                                      "Timeout/failure sending START");
+                }
+        }
     }
 
     for (auto &s : socket)
diff --git a/image_pusher/TCPStreamPusherSocket.cpp b/image_pusher/TCPStreamPusherSocket.cpp
index 489c0498..ef4291ec 100644
--- a/image_pusher/TCPStreamPusherSocket.cpp
+++ b/image_pusher/TCPStreamPusherSocket.cpp
@@ -99,8 +99,14 @@ void TCPStreamPusherSocket::CloseDataSocket() {
 bool TCPStreamPusherSocket::AcceptConnection(std::chrono::milliseconds timeout) {
     std::unique_lock ul(send_mutex);
 
-    CloseDataSocket();
+    // Reuse existing healthy connection instead of always forcing reconnect.
+    if (fd.load() >= 0 && IsConnectionAlive()) {
+        broken = false;
+        logger.Info("TCP peer already connected on " + endpoint + ", reusing existing connection");
+        return true;
+    }
 
+    CloseDataSocket();
     broken = false;
 
     pollfd pfd{};