Story

Don’t forget me!

Young refugee redhhead woman crying and waiting train on station platform, she lost and using smart phone. Railroad transport concept, Traveler.

No sooner do you find yourself caught up in a conversation, lost in thought or simply fascinated by the beautiful view, than you hear “Next stop …” – and you have to hastily pack up all your belongings. On the platform, you realise that you have left the dog leash under your seat. But the train is already out of sight. How silly! Here are the ten items that are lost most frequently on public transport.

Thousands of items are left on public transport every year. Whether it’s a wallet or a cap, a shopping bag or headphones, a toy or a teddy bear – all kinds of things end up in the SBB lost property office. In 2022, SBB’s lost property service recorded around 111,700 items, over half of which found their way back to their owners.

Lost and found again?

All items found in trains or stations operated by SBB or its affiliated transport companies are sent to the head office in Bern. If a customer has reported an item lost, and it is found again, they can come and collect it at any staffed station.
To prevent the lost property office from eventually bursting, there are legal specifications that define how long lost property has to be kept: three months. After this deadline, items are sold via fundsachenverkauf.ch.

The top 10 lost items

We dug into SBB’s treasure trove and found out what is probably the most common item to be forgotten – and which extraordinary articles have been lost on public transport in the past.