Three railway maintenance employees instantly died and one more was injured when the Howrah-bound Falaknuma Express ran over them between Balichak and Tuan stations in West Midnapore around 10am on Saturday.

The deceased were identified as gangmen Bapi Nayak, 40, Nipen Pal, 40, and Manik Mandal, 40. Nayak and Pal were residents of Kharagpur and Mandal was from Debra. Their colleague Kisan Besra, from Kolaghat, survived with injuries after leaping off the tracks.

“It happened in a flash. I don’t remember hearing a horn,” said Besra from his bed in a private hospital in Calcutta. “We were so focused on our job in the heat that we have no idea how it happened,” Besra, who suffered serious injuries to his left leg, said.

GRP sources said a departmental investigation had been initiated. The express train of the South Eastern Railways headed for Kharagpur was speeding at over 100km per hour.

The gangmen were reportedly carrying out a routine check and minor repairs of the railway tracks when the accident took place.

“The train stopped immediately after and our personnel responded to the incident,” said a source in the railways.

Sources said a team, including the additional mechanical engineering, was at the accident site.

Divisional railway manager (south eastern), Manoranjan Pradhan, said: “An inquiry team has been formed and an investigation started. The gangmen were carrying out routine maintenance.”

An official said workers were on the middle line of the tracks, and according to reports from eyewitnesses no loud horn was heard right before the accident.

Other railway officials, however, said the train driver had applied the horn to alert the staff.