Punchbowl station death: Tourist Tuyet Nguyen is struck by at rain and killed after she dropped an item on the tracks

A woman who was fatally hit by a train after jumping on the tracks to retrieve a lost item has been identified as a Vietnamese tourist.

Tuyet Nguyen, 52, was on holiday in Sydney  to visit family when she was struck by the train at Punchbowl train station, in Sydney's south-west, on Tuesday afternoon.

She had climbed down onto the track to retrieve something she had dropped - understood to be her slipper - and was unable to get back onto the platform before the train arrived.  

Ms Nguyen's nephew Toan Huyn told Daily Mail Australia his aunt holidayed in Australia - where her sister lives - every year. 

Ms Nguyen regularly shared photos of her visits of Sydney to social media - including a holiday in 2022 and a trip last year, where she posted images of the Opera House. 

The tragedy occurred at peak hour, with authorities closing down trains between Campsie and Bankstown in Sydney's inner west as emergency crews worked to free Ms Nguyen from beneath the locomotive. 

She was immediately transferred to an ambulance before being taken to St George Hospital, but died there on Wednesday morning.

Police have spoken with a number of witnesses and have reviewed CCTV as part of their inquiries.

The train driver returned a negative breath test.