Letters from the Royal Family, an antique pendulum clock and a 120-year-old first edition HG Wells novel are among the weirdest items lost on Sydney public transport that are now being held in a dusty warehouse beneath Central Station.
But Transport NSW hopes to return these items, and thousands more, to their rightful owners through the digital Lost Property System launched on Monday.
About 200 items are lost on Sydney trains every day, with Central Station collecting more than 60,000 items during the course of each year.
The total number of lost items annually across all modes of public transport is about 200,000, but only 45 per cent are ever returned or redeemed.
The items lost on trains are given 28 days to be claimed but after that, they are sent to online auction specialist Pickles – which also hosts Sydney Airport’s annual auction.
The majority of the items are phones, wallets, earphones, handbags, glasses, shoes and umbrellas.
But Sydney Trains custom area manager Graeme Ellis and his team save some items that are clearly sentimental or unique.
“If it’s easily identifiable and obviously worthwhile keeping, we hold on to it and work tirelessly to find its owner; but that’s not always possible,” Mr Ells told NCA NewsWire.
Mr Ellis recalls an item his team set aside and did manage to return – a letter from the Royal Family written to a young Australian boy several years ago.
The boy was a huge Royal Family fan and penned a series of letters before finally receiving a reply, which he then lost on a train.
There was also a mysterious case of an urn with ashes inside that was wrapped in a sleeping bag and left behind in a train carriage.
The items still sitting in lost and found beneath Central Station include a wheelchair, a beautiful pendulum clock and an army suit.
Perhaps the most valuable item, though, is an original, first edition of The First Men in The Moon (1901) by HG Wells, the famous English writer who also penned The War of The Worlds.
The book’s original owner wrote a message to another person who received it as a gift: “To John from Pop, Wishing you the best in 1937.”
NSW transport Minister Andrew Constance said the Lost Property System would make it significantly easier to track items customers had lost.
“We know recovering an item is a pain point for our customers and once the item is gone, they think there is a slim chance of getting it back,” he said.
“Fortunately, this isn’t the case and the introduction of this new system will streamline the process, even if you’re unsure exactly where you may have left it behind.
“Now customers can lodge a lost property inquiry online 24/7 and receive email notifications advising of the status until the item is found, or for up to one month if the item is not found.”
The new system is now live and applies to all public transport across the Greater Sydney area and for all NSW TrainLink services.
Customers can submit an inquiry via the Lost Property web form and the Opal Travel app.
Read related topics:SydneyncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrGWcp51jrrZ7zZqroqeelrlwutKwZJqbpGS%2For7EZpinrJmmwqZ5wqWmnKOjYruwwsSlqmaZnaS7qHnSramappeaeqrAxKaqZqSVm8Fuu81mp66anJ6wbsDRmqWsqJ%2BnwW61zWalrK9fo7K4v4ysq6iqqWSCcoLEcGqenmFrgKV8wp5unmljboJ3hcCeaJ9qZWavcQ%3D%3D