diff --git a/include/maxscale/protocol/mysql.h b/include/maxscale/protocol/mysql.h
index c2af6903a..bd4edf090 100644
--- a/include/maxscale/protocol/mysql.h
+++ b/include/maxscale/protocol/mysql.h
@@ -526,6 +526,15 @@ bool mxs_mysql_is_ok_packet(GWBUF* buffer);
  */
 bool mxs_mysql_is_err_packet(GWBUF* buffer);
 
+/**
+ * Extract the error code from an ERR packet
+ *
+ * @param buffer Buffer containing the ERR packet
+ *
+ * @return The error code or 0 if the buffer is not an ERR packet
+ */
+uint16_t mxs_mysql_get_mysql_errno(GWBUF* buffer);
+
 /**
  * @brief Check if a buffer contains a result set
  *
diff --git a/server/modules/protocol/MySQL/mysql_common.cc b/server/modules/protocol/MySQL/mysql_common.cc
index cbbfc561b..cdb8fd1e1 100644
--- a/server/modules/protocol/MySQL/mysql_common.cc
+++ b/server/modules/protocol/MySQL/mysql_common.cc
@@ -1171,6 +1171,21 @@ bool mxs_mysql_is_err_packet(GWBUF* buffer)
     return cmd == MYSQL_REPLY_ERR;
 }
 
+uint16_t mxs_mysql_get_mysql_errno(GWBUF* buffer)
+{
+    uint16_t rval = 0;
+
+    if (mxs_mysql_is_err_packet(buffer))
+    {
+        uint8_t buf[2];
+        // First two bytes after the 0xff byte are the error code
+        gwbuf_copy_data(buffer, MYSQL_HEADER_LEN + 1, 2, buf);
+        rval = gw_mysql_get_byte2(buf);
+    }
+
+    return rval;
+}
+
 bool mxs_mysql_is_result_set(GWBUF* buffer)
 {
     bool rval = false;
diff --git a/server/modules/routing/readwritesplit/rwsplitsession.cc b/server/modules/routing/readwritesplit/rwsplitsession.cc
index 76615472e..ae86915b9 100644
--- a/server/modules/routing/readwritesplit/rwsplitsession.cc
+++ b/server/modules/routing/readwritesplit/rwsplitsession.cc
@@ -555,6 +555,12 @@ void RWSplitSession::manage_transactions(SRWBackend& backend, GWBUF* writebuf)
     }
 }
 
+static bool server_is_shutting_down(GWBUF* writebuf)
+{
+    uint64_t err = mxs_mysql_get_mysql_errno(writebuf);
+    return err == ER_SERVER_SHUTDOWN || err == ER_NORMAL_SHUTDOWN || err == ER_SHUTDOWN_COMPLETE;
+}
+
 void RWSplitSession::clientReply(GWBUF* writebuf, DCB* backend_dcb)
 {
     DCB* client_dcb = backend_dcb->session->client_dcb;
@@ -578,6 +584,14 @@ void RWSplitSession::clientReply(GWBUF* writebuf, DCB* backend_dcb)
         }
         return;
     }
+    else if (backend->get_reply_state() == REPLY_STATE_START && server_is_shutting_down(writebuf))
+    {
+        // The server is shutting down, act as if the network connection failed. This allows
+        // the query to be retried on another server without the client noticing it.
+        poll_fake_hangup_event(backend_dcb);
+        gwbuf_free(writebuf);
+        return;
+    }
 
     if ((writebuf = handle_causal_read_reply(writebuf, backend)) == NULL)
     {