One of the unrecognized heroes of Sydney’s train network has revealed how he manages to reconnect late-night commuters with their lost items.
Reg Agar, known as Central Station’s nocturnal ‘Fixer’, said he has tracked down everything from flight passports to the ashes of loved ones all over Sydney.
A particularly proud moment for Reg was when he helped a young woman find her missing backpack.
The black bag contained everything she needed for her flight back to New Zealand the next morning, including her passport, wallet, phone and laptop.
Reg said the distressed woman approached him at about 11:45pm after traveling from the domestic airport to the main train station.
Her bag was nowhere to be found on the ‘lost and found’ register, but Reg said he was determined to help and ‘had to do something’.
Known as Sydney Central Station’s ‘Fixer’, Reg Agar (above) is responsible for reconnecting commuters with their lost items
Reg said he’s tracked down everything from passports just before flights to the ashes of a loved one from all over Sydney (pictured, central station)
The woman was unsure which train or carriage she was on, so the Fixer called Sydney Airport Station management to track her on CCTV and sorted it out.
“Our train location system showed the train was at Leppington stabling yard for the night, it was now about 12.30am and I didn’t like contacting anyone at that time,” Reg told Nine News.
Against all odds, another night watchman was on duty in Leppington and said he would be able to check the train.
Reg said at the time that he had sent the worried woman home and assured her that he would do everything he could to get her bag back for her morning flight.
At about 3:30 a.m., the Fixer said he got the call from Leppington that the woman’s belongings had been found with everything intact.
A proud Reg then relayed the message to the woman, telling her she could pick up the bag at 7am from the nearest train station, Merrylands.
“She cried out with happiness and couldn’t thank me enough!” he said.
The Fixer said he helped a woman find her backpack (above) containing her passport, wallet, phone and laptop just hours before her flight to New Zealand
Reg also helped two confused German backpackers who were “crying uncontrollably” track down their lost passports, airline tickets and wallets just three hours before their flight back home.
The pair were ‘hysterical’ and could barely tell Reg how they got to Central Station.
He eventually learned that they caught a bus “next to a wharf,” outside his railroad jurisdiction.
However, the Fixer pinned down and managed to find a team at the Waverley bus depot that could assist in the search.
Just 30 minutes later, he heard back that the missing items had been found and were on board a bus that was due to arrive in Central in 40 minutes.
‘Our German customers couldn’t believe their ears and cried with joy. I shed a tear myself, I must admit,” Reg said.
Sydney Trains employees typically find between 500 and 700 lost items per week, the most popular being wallets, keys, Opal cards and jewellery, or prams, bicycles and musical instruments.
Sydney Trains employees typically find between 500 and 700 lost items per week (pictured, Central Station)
Reg said stations can see up to 15 abandoned phones every day and dozens of umbrellas every time it rains.
The Fixer’s strangest find, however, was a wooden box containing a person’s ashes.
On another day, he found a woman’s handbag that was empty except for an envelope with $10,000 in it.
“No day is the same, that’s why I love my job,” said Reg.
