Even as natural gas service will be restored by the end of the month to the thousands affected by September’s gas explosions in Massachusetts, safeguards to prevent similar explosions nationwide won’t be coming as quickly.
Crews failed to relocate pressure-sensing lines from an old cast-iron distribution main during a mid-September Columbia Gas pipeline replacement, igniting a series of explosions and fires north of Boston, according to a preliminary report by federal investigators.
In Woburn, Mass., National Grid shut off gas to 339 homes after a worker inadvertently over-pressurized a line Oct. 8. A similar occurrence Sept. 13 in a Columbia Gas line in the region apparently triggered explosions and fires that burned 80 structures in three localities.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority management board approved a $217.7 million contract to upgrade and modernize the signal systems on two MBTA subway lines.