Liquid column separation occurs when the valve on the pipeline is closed rapidly in an oil hydraulic system. In this case two-step pressure rise is sometimes observed in a comparatively short pipeline. In this study the two-step pressure rise phenomenon was investigated experimentally and theoretically. The experiments showed that maximum pressure values during two-step pressure rise might exceed extremely the values computed by the theory of rigid-liquid-column separation. So the two-step pressure rise phenomenon appears one of important factors of pipe strength design. From the theoretical considerations based on the experimental and numerical results, the mechanism of two-step pressure rise phenomenon could be explained clearly.