What are the merits and demerits of pipelines?

Pipelines are modern unmanned transportation system that has gained in importance all over the world over due to the relative ease of transportation as well as reduced costs.

• Pipelines are used extensively to transport liquids, gases and also solids by converting them into a slurry, such as water, petroleum and natural gas. Pipelines are also used to transport liquified coal.

• Pipelines are effective in connecting remote regions to supply networks and offers an uninterrupted flow of goods.

• The pipeline provides the least consumption of fuel per tonnage of goods carried and distance covered. Hence, it is less demanding on fossil fuels.

• Pipelines provide a safe and convenient mode for transporting flammable, volatile or explosive resources like natural gas and oil. Moreover, pipelines can prevent leakage of these resources which leads to pollution, and are not susceptible to the conditions of the weather.

• The construction period of the pipeline is short and the costs are low. Since pipelines are mostly underground, they do not affect existing infrastructure as much as other modes of transportation.

Pipelines are a relatively newer mode of transportation and hence the demerits are few. The major drawback is that the initial cost of laying pipelines is high. Also, if the pipeline is proposed over long-distance and traversing over different countries, it is often time-consuming and tied down due to red-tapism. However safe it might be, if accidents occur it is highly destructive and expensive to fix pipelines.