Aging N.Y. pipes raise concerns of more blasts

Underground mains rarely inspected
Steam explosions, in fact, are rare and have decreased in recent years. The last major explosion in New York, in 1989, killed three people.

Smaller steam systems have also operated largely without mishap in Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore, although a pipe explosion in the nation’s capital near the White House badly injured two workers in 2004.

In Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino said his staff asked Trigen Energy, the operator of 22 miles of steam infrastructure in the city, for assurances the system is safe.

Some pipes there date to the 1930s, and the company is making repairs, including work outside City Hall that Menino can watch from his window.

Con Ed said some components of the system are examined about every six weeks, but steam mains underground are generally not inspected because doing so often requires digging up the street.

'Getting out of hand'
That is something that should change immediately, Agrawal said. Robotic probes can detect corrosion or damage to steam pipes from within, without having to dig them up, he said.

“They have to start looking at the entire system,” he said. “Imagine something like this exploding under Grand Central? Or under Broadway?”

Some New Yorkers have had enough.

“They need to do something about the infrastructure. It’s really getting out of hand,” said Steve Raphael, a lawyer who had to talk his way past a police blockade to get to his office near the blast zone Thursday.

“It could take 20 years, it could take 30 years, but they’ve got to take 10 blocks at a time and replace things before they break.”

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