PIPELINE ACCIDENT REPORT - MICHIGAN-WISCONSIN PIPE LINE COMPANY, GAS TRANSMISSION LINE FAILURE, SOUTH OF MONROE, LOUISIANA

The report describes and analyzes a natural gas pipeline accident near Monroe, La., on March 2, 1974. A 30-inch pipeline failed at a girth weld inside a casing under a highway. A resulting fire burned 10 acres of forest, but no deaths or injuries resulted. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the failure of a substandard girth weld due to repeated soil stresses. Contributing to the imposed stresses were the position of the pipe inside the casing and the heavy clay soil surrounding the pipe at each end of the casing. Recommendations are made to determine the effectiveness of using casing for pipelines beneath highways and railroads and to develop guidelines for the effective operation of automatic valves.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Pipeline Accident Report for March 2,1974.
• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Office of Surface Transportation Safety
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1975-4-2

Media Info

• Pagination: 27 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash investigation; Defects; Earth pressure; Failure; Fires; Forest fires; Gas pipelines; Highways; Machine valves; Natural gas; Natural gas distribution systems; Pipelines; Safety; Welds
• Uncontrolled Terms: Weld defects
• Old TRIS Terms: Covering
• Subject Areas: Pipelines; Railroads; Safety and Human Factors; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00091483
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB-PAR-75-1
• Files: NTIS, TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 24 1975 12:00AM