We present an explicit second order staggered finite difference (FD) discretization scheme for forward simulation of natural gas transport in pipeline networks. By construction, this discretization approach guarantees that the conservation of mass condition is satisfied exactly. The mathematical model is formulated in terms of density, pressure, and mass flux variables, and as a result permits the use of a general equation of state to define the relation between the gas density and pressure for a given temperature. In a single pipe, the model represents the dynamics of the density by propagation of a non-linear wave according to a variable wave speed. We derive compatibility conditions for linking domain boundary values to enable efficient, explicit simulation of gas flows propagating through a network with pressure changes created by gas compressors. We compare Kiuchi's implicit method and an explicit operator splitting method with our staggered grid method, and perform numerical experiments to validate the convergence order of the new method. In addition, we perform several computations to investigate the influence of non-ideal equation of state models and temperature effects into pipeline simulations with boundary conditions over various time and space scales.