The two trains were traveling on parallel tracks that merged to cross the Gunpowder River bridge north of Baltimore. Amtrak's twelve-car Washington-to- Boston Colonial, carrying 616 passengers, was speeding along at 105 m.p.h. or more. A Conrail train, consisting of three engines, was headed for Harrisburg, Pa. After the Conrail engineer apparently failed to heed a "distant signal" alerting him to slow down, he was unable to respond to a second stop signal and slid directly into the path of the onrushing Amtrak. The passenger train slammed into the rearmost Conrail engine, which exploded. The Amtrak engine caught fire and flipped...
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