Underground Construction - March 2020 - 9

In addition to rental revenue, ARA also is
reporting an increase in U.S. rental penetration over
the last two years, ticking up to 55.9% in 2018 and
56.7% in 2019. ARA defines rental penetration as the
percentage of construction equipment currently in
use that is owned by equipment rental companies.

Texas Railroad Commission
Adopts New Pipeline
Safety Rules
The Railroad Commission (RRC) of Texas has
adopted new natural gas pipeline safety rules
regarding the type of natural gas distribution
pipelines that are allowed to be installed.
The new rules prohibit natural gas distribution
pipeline operators from installing underground
cast iron, wrought iron or bare steel pipelines.
Other new pipeline safety requirements require
operators to more thoroughly assess the potential
public safety risk of gathering lines.
The RRC's new pipeline rules also require these
natural gas distribution pipeline operators to
replace any known existing cast iron pipelines
by Dec. 31, 2021.
Under the new measures, gathering line
operators are also required to report incidents and
accidents on gathering lines that result in a death
or in-patient hospitalization, property damage of
$50,000 or more, or estimated gas loss of three
million cubic feet or more.
Operators must submit a corrective action plan
to the Commission to remediate an accident,
incident or threat that creates a public safety risk
or address a public safety complaint.

Mississippi River near St. Louis.
Ameren Illinois last year spent $48 million to
upgrade 14 miles of old Madison County pipeline
between the towns of Troy and Highland. In 2018,
the company spent about $18 million to replace
6.4 miles of pipeline.
Richard Mark, chairman and president of

Ameren Illinois, said the upgrades are "part of an
overall statewide plan to upgrade and improve our
natural gas system."
Collinsville-based Ameren Illinois serves 1.2
million electric customers and more than 800,000
natural gas customers across nearly 44,000
square miles of central and southern Illinois

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Ameren Illinois Plans Natural
Gas Pipeline Upgrades
Ameren Illinois said it will replace 12 miles of
aging natural gas pipeline in two Illinois locations
for a combined cost of $64 million as part of its
planned system upgrades around the state.
The projects include replacement of about
5 miles of 1930s-era steel pipe at Pekin, Ill.,
south of Peoria, with new 16-inch steel pipe.
The $32 million project is expected to begin
service by early summer.
The projects also include the replacement of
7 miles of gas pipeline installed during the 1960s
in the Glen Carbon area of Madison County with
a combination of 16-, 12- and 10-inch pipeline.
That project, also budgeted at $32 million, is
the latest in a series of system upgrades in the
southern Illinois county, which borders the

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Underground Construction - March 2020

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