Three women were killed and another one was severely injured after they came under a running train on Saturday afternoon.

All the women were contract labourers who were working on the railway tracks between Malad and Goregaon station.

The deceased have been identified as Shivani Bhoryalay, 18, Anita Shinde, 32, and Jaya Khatawase, 35. Shivani’s mother Sunita has sustained severe injuries in the accident. All the deceased hailed from Madhya Pradesh.

The women, after completing their work of deep screening (checking stones laid on tracks), were walking towards the Malad railway station around 12.15 pm when they were run over by holiday special Bandra Terminus-Indore Express.

All the four women were moved to civic-run Shatabdi hospital where doctors declared them dead. The injured woman is undergoing treatment.

“We were working since 9 am and were about to finish around noon. The four women began walking towards Malad station on the same track they were working on. As the train approached, many people tried to alert them, but it was too late,” said Hemant Singh, the site supervisor.

Railway officials termed the presence of labourers on the spot illegal and an act of trespassing, a term used to describe illegal crossing of tracks.

“The women were contract labourers and not railway employees. Their work place was far from the accident site. They were trespassing the railway tracks between Malad and Goregaon stations,” said Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway (WR) Ravinder Bhakar.

Purushottam Karad, deputy commissioner of police, Government Railway Police, WR, said, “Four women were run over by a train, three of them died on the spot and one of them have sustained severe injuries. We have registered an accidental death report at the Borivali Railway police station,”

Ajay Singh, divisional secretary, Western Railway Mazdoor Sangh, said: “The Railways should ensure that although these are contract labourers as per labour laws, proper salaries, provident fund and insurance are paid to them. They should also be given necessary safety gear”.

Meanwhile, the Borivali police have recorded the statements of family members of the deceased, labour contractor and supervisor of the site along with other eyewitnesses.