Mumbai, 23 Jan 

Three staffers of the Western Railway (WR) died after being run over by a local train near Vasai in Palghar district while they were fixing a signalling issue, police officials said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred at 8.55 pm on Monday between Vasai Road and Naigaon stations when the local was going towards Churchgate, an official of the Government Railway Police (GRP) said.

The deceased were identified as chief signalling inspector (Bhayandar) Vasu Mitra, electrical signalling maintainer (Vasai Road) Somnath Uttam Lambutre and helper Sachin Wankhade. All these staffers were from the signalling department of the WR's Mumbai division, he said.

They had gone to fix some signalling point that failed on Monday evening, the official said.

The Western Railway has ordered an inquiry into the incident, officials said.

The authorities have paid Rs 55,000 each to the family members of the three deceased as immediate relief, they said.