SBB lost property and station / campus parking

Last checked: 5 Oct 2026. Unofficial student guide, not EPFL or government advice: confirm on the linked official pages before you act. Unfamiliar abbreviation? See the Glossary.

Companion to Getting around and Half-Fare & SwissPass. CHF amounts below are copied from those official pages on 5 Oct 2026; confirm today’s fee on the live SBB or EPFL page before you pay.

What this page is for

What to do if you lose something on an SBB train, at a station, or on a partner network that uses the SBB Lost & Found service (including tl in the Lausanne area).
How P+Rail station parking works (hourly / day / monthly / annual), including Canton of Vaud pass-allocation rules.
Short pointer to EPFL campus parking if you drive onto campus instead of parking at a station.

Lost property (SBB Fundservice)

Free loss report

If you lose an item on a train or at a station, SBB asks you to file a free online loss report so they can match it when something is found. File a report even if you can track the item (AirTag / SmartTag, etc.). SBB notifies you when they can assign the item and again when it is ready for collection.

Entry points:

SBB Lost & Found overview (submit report / express search / status)
Report form: lostandfound.sbb.ch
DE how-to with fees: Verlustmeldung erfassen
EN Q&A: Questions and answers on the SBB Lost and Found Service

Describe the item from the outside in (bag brand and look, then contents). For phones and laptops, add serial / IMEI / SIM numbers when you can. For keys, key numbers help.

Collection fees (dated 5 Oct 2026)

Charged when you pick up a matched item (not for filing the free report):

Item type	Standard	With GA Travelcard
Ordinary item	CHF 20	CHF 10
Electronics (phone, laptop, tablet) or bulky (bike, e-scooter, pushchair)	CHF 25	CHF 15
Change collection station after notification	CHF 10 per item	(same line on EN Q&A)

Sources: SBB Verlustmeldung page and EN Q&A above.

Express search (dated 5 Oct 2026)

If you lost something at a staffed station, or on an SBB train with attendants that will still run for at least 30 minutes, SBB recommends an express search request: CHF 75 including the return fee. You get an email or SMS update within four hours, or when the item is ready. Same EN Q&A page.

Collection timing and IDs

You generally cannot collect the same day; SBB says pickup becomes possible within about one to three days depending on the station. Note counter opening hours.
Swiss ID cards: if lost, report to the police immediately; a lost ID is invalid and must be revoked.
Foreign passports / ID cards: SBB sends them weekly to the relevant embassy / consulate; they are not shipped abroad to you.
Shipping a found item abroad: actual shipping cost plus a one-time return fee of CHF 70 (paid before shipping); customs/import fees are yours. Passports cannot be sent abroad; they go to the embassy in Switzerland.

Partner networks (including tl)

One SBB loss report covers items lost while travelling with listed partners. The EN Q&A partner list includes Transports publics de la région lausannoise (tl) plus many other railways, PostAuto, TPF, Thurbo, BLS, RhB, and others named on that page.

If your operator is not on that published list, contact that operator’s own lost-property desk. Do not assume SBB covers every local bus, metro or private shuttle.

International trains that entered Switzerland from abroad: also file with the foreign partner railway (DB, ÖBB, SNCF, etc.) as SBB instructs on the Verlustmeldung page.

Contact

SBB Contact Center: 0848 44 66 88 (CHF 0.08/min.), 24/7. From abroad: +41 848 44 66 88.

Lost in the street, a shop or a tl bus rather than on SBB? See Lost property in Vaud: commune and police.

Parking at the station (P+Rail)

SBB, P+Rail: park at one of about 600 P+Rail stations, then take the train. Easiest purchase for hourly / day tickets: P+Rail app (iOS / Android, free; SwissPass login). Help hub: Help with Park and Rail. Location index: P+Rail locations.

Official price ranges (dated 5 Oct 2026)

Copied from the P+Rail offer page. Your station’s tariff can differ; the app shows the exact price before you pay.

Product	Official range on SBB P+Rail page	Notes
Hourly	from CHF 0.50 / hour	Location-dependent
Day ticket	from CHF 3 to CHF 20	Location-dependent
Monthly Pass	from CHF 30 to CHF 160	Needs a valid public-transport travelcard (GA, Half-Fare Travelcard PLUS, regional or point-to-point travelcard)
Annual Pass	from CHF 300 to CHF 1,600	Same travelcard condition

A pre-paid ticket does not guarantee a free space (no refunds for full car parks). Some sites offer paid pre-booking. At least one reduced-mobility space exists at every P+Rail facility.

Parking penalty examples on the help page: unpaid / wrong ticket, reserved bay, outside the area, etc. Payment request amount cited by SBB for Transsicura-inspected sites: CHF 50 (QR / sbb.ch/en/gnf).

Canton of Vaud: monthly / annual pass priority (from 5 May 2026)

SBB’s Park and Rail help page explains that, from 5 May 2026, busy Vaud P+Rail sites allocate monthly and annual passes with priority to customers whose homes are hard to reach by public transport or too far to walk/cycle. Criteria use the home address on your SwissPass (public-transport quality within 300 m; distance to the P+Rail site, with high priority often in the 1-5 km band). An exclusion zone (generally 10 km) can block a pass for a distant site. Day / hourly parking remains available without those pass criteria when spaces are free.

If a pass is refused: try another nearby P+Rail site, or use day/hourly tickets. Review requests go via SBB Contact Center (claims) or phone above.

Lausanne / Renens station parking (official, not P+Rail)

SBB’s published P+Rail locations list still does not list “Lausanne” or “Renens” as P+Rail sites. Do not apply the national P+Rail price ranges above to those two hubs unless the P+Rail app or on-site signs say otherwise.

Lausanne station (Ville de Lausanne / works):

The covered Parking Gare (Simplon) has been permanently closed since 31 May 2021 for station redevelopment (Ville de Lausanne, Parking Gare).
Surface drop-off, PMR, bike and taxi offers around Place de la Gare / Place des Saugettes change with the CFF works (Ville update May 2026): Places de la Gare et des Saugettes. That page describes layouts, not a P+Rail day-ticket tariff table.

Renens station (commune):

Official Renens parkings page: parking at Renens station is very difficult for the whole duration of the works (Ville de Renens, Parkings).
Municipal short-stay / resident authorisations use ParkingPay (not SBB P+Rail). Example short-stay prices on the commune’s digital-parking leaflet: CHF 6 for 6 hours / CHF 12 for 11 hours in sectors A–E (Renens leaflet PDF). Those are commune street/sector authorisations, not a station P+Rail product.

Nearby named P+Rail options on the official locations list (useful park-then-train): for example Bussigny, Cossonay-Penthalaz, Denges-Echandens, Vufflens-la-Ville. Confirm today’s tariff in the P+Rail app before you drive.

EPFL campus parking (complementary)

If you drive onto the Ecublens campus instead of parking at Renens / Lausanne stations, use EPFL Mobility rules (not P+Rail).

Source: EPFL, Parking and charging stations (pricing from 1 January 2026 on that page).

Highlights for newcomers:

A parking permit is required on working days 08:00-18:00 in paid zones.
Green (mutual) spaces: staff / selected students via Camipro wallet; BA/MA students must apply (windows EPFL stated for 2025: Jan and Aug). Day rates by status, for example BA/MA students CHF 2.- per day (08:00-18:00), half-day CHF 1.- , hour CHF 0.30 (max CHF 2.- / day). Staff day rate CHF 4.- . Outside those hours, green zones are free.
White (visitor) spaces: CHF 2.00 / hour on working days 08:00-18:00; free outside those hours. Pay at meter or Parkingpay / EasyPark / Twint.
SwissTech Village car park: CHF 4.- / hour (24/7); lost ticket CHF 35.- ; monthly rental CHF 180.- / month incl. VAT (contact on EPFL page).
Colladon lot closed permanently from 1 May 2026 (ASB works); green spaces redirected to underground BC-IN.

Desk: EPFL car park office BS 082, Mon-Fri 07:30-09:00 / 12:30-14:00 · +41 21 693 89 79 · parking@epfl.ch.

For bikes (not cars): Bike parking & theft.

Quick checklist

Lost on train / station / tl (if listed): free SBB loss report → wait for match → pay collection fee on pickup.
Need it urgently at a staffed station / attended train: consider express search (CHF 75).
Passport lost: police + embassy path; SBB will not post a foreign passport abroad to you. Lost your passport or permit card? See Lost passport, ID or permit card.
Station car park: P+Rail app for exact CHF when the site is a P+Rail location; Lausanne Simplon garage closed since 2021; Renens station hard during works (commune page); neither hub is on the published P+Rail name list (5 Oct 2026).
Vaud pass rules if you want monthly/annual at a busy Vaud P+Rail site (from 5 May 2026).
Campus car park: EPFL green/white rules and Camipro; apply early if you are BA/MA.

Sources

Unofficial student project. Confirm today’s fees in the SBB app / EPFL Mobility page before you travel.