1.27 crore railway bedsheets, towels, blankets stolen since 2022. Here's what an RTI investigation found

More than 1.27 crore bedroll items supplied to passengers travelling in air-conditioned coaches on Indian Railways have gone missing over the past four years, according to an RTI investigation by The Indian Express, exposing a growing problem that has driven up costs and left many coach attendants facing salary deductions to cover the losses.

The newspaper filed Right to Information (RTI) applications with all 69 divisions of Indian Railways and received replies from 54 divisions across 16 of its 18 railway zones, although some shared only partial information. The records show that at least 1.27 crore bedroll items—including bedsheets, towels, blankets, pillows and pillow covers—were reported stolen between January 2022, when bedroll services resumed after the pandemic, and May 2026.

The compiled data shows that linen thefts increased by 56% between 2022 and 2025. Based on the available records, the losses have cost bedroll contractors an estimated ₹104.51 crore over the four years.

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Indian Railways distributes bedroll kits to around eight lakh AC passengers every night. While the missing linen accounts for only a small fraction of the total supplied, officials say the thefts have become a recurring operational challenge.

One in every 1,000 AC passengers

As per the RTI data, roughly one in every 1,000 AC passengers walks away with at least one bedroll item at the end of a journey.

The RTI requests did not cover the South Coast Railway, a newly created zone, or Kolkata Metro, which does not operate conventional AC passenger trains. Even among the 54 responding divisions, 14 did not provide complete figures for every category of linen, while nine did not disclose the cost of missing items, suggesting the actual financial impact could be higher than the estimated ₹104.51 crore.

Face towels emerge as the most stolen item

Face towels accounted for the largest share of stolen linen during the four years.
The data shows that 46.54 lakh face towels went missing, followed by 41.13 lakh bedsheets, 23.59 lakh pillow covers, 12.95 lakh blankets, and 2.76 lakh pillows.

Ten divisions account for two-thirds of thefts

The RTI replies show that just 10 railway divisions across seven zones accounted for around 67% of all reported linen thefts.
Bikaner recorded the highest number of missing items at 25.76 lakh, followed by Ranchi (9.31 lakh), Delhi (8.21 lakh), Mumbai (8.17 lakh), Jodhpur (8.09 lakh), Ahmedabad (6.94 lakh) and Danapur (5.72 lakh). Jaipur, Sonpur, and Bilaspur also featured among the worst-affected divisions.

The pattern of theft varied across the country. Bedsheets accounted for nearly half of all reported thefts in Bikaner, where 12.42 lakh went missing.

Towels were the most frequently stolen item in Delhi, Ranchi, Mumbai, Danapur, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur. Pillow covers topped the list in Sonpur and Bilaspur, while blankets were stolen the most in Jodhpur, with more than 3.4 lakh reported missing.

Some divisions saw sharp spikes, while others reported declines

Bikaner recorded the steepest increase in reported linen thefts, with missing items rising from 2.99 lakh in 2022 to 12.34 lakh. Sonpur also witnessed a sharp jump, from 36,448 items to 3.01 lakh.

Other divisions reporting notable increases included Danapur, where thefts rose by 78,095 items (91%), Dhanbad by 55,906 items (91%), Ranchi by 77,332 items (45%), and Jodhpur by 94,679 items (46%).

Delhi bucked the trend by reducing reported thefts by 79%, from 3.27 lakh to 68,013 items. Ahmedabad recorded an 83% decline, while Samastipur reported an 86% reduction.

No linen theft was reported from the Tiruchirappalli and Palakkad divisions. Adra division also reported no theft, although it operates only freight services and has no AC passenger coaches.

Railways says the issue is a 'serious concern'

Responding to questions from The Indian Express, a Ministry of Railways spokesperson described linen theft as a "serious concern", saying that "efforts are being made to prevent linen theft and take action against offenders". The spokesperson also said the Railways "cannot establish" any evidence of staff collusion in the thefts.

Explaining the process, the spokesperson said that "generally linen (items) are collected by linen attendants after de-boarding of passengers from trains. The responsibility of account of linens in Railway coaches is with the agency that has been deployed for linen distribution. For any shortage, cost recovery is done from the bills of the agency."

The spokesperson added that "due to theft of linen, additional linen sets are required to meet the shortfall".

Contractors and attendants say they bear the losses

Although the linen belongs to the Railways, contractors responsible for supplying bedrolls say the financial burden is often passed on to their staff.

A supervisor of a bedroll distribution firm in the Solapur division of Central Railway said, "The theft of linen is a real problem for us", adding, "A significant portion of the earnings is deducted from the bill for these cases. We had a three-year contract with the Railways, but we had to end it in 14 months due to a delay in payment. We had deployed around 60 staff in coaches for the distribution in 5 trains. For every stolen item, they recover ₹115 for a pillow, ₹198 for a bedsheet, ₹ 55 for a pillow cover, ₹48 for a face towel, and ₹343 for a  blanket."

According to a 2015 Railway Board circular, the cost of a missing linen item is recovered at 100% of its purchase price if it disappears before half of its prescribed service life, 50% if it is beyond that point, or 75% if the item's service life cannot be determined.

A linen attendant working on a superfast train under East Central Railway said the deductions significantly reduce workers' monthly earnings. "There are seven attendants in this train, with each managing an AC coach. We are paid on a daily basis, and I get ₹700 for a day’s work. So if I work for 30 days without a break, I am entitled to about ₹21,000 in a month. But that doesn’t happen because every month around 2,000-3,000 is deducted for linen theft. During March and April, 17 bedsheets, three blankets, and nine pillows were lost on my watch," the attendant said, adding that towels are now distributed only when passengers ask for them.

Railways introduce measures to curb theft

The Railways says it has introduced several measures to tackle linen theft, including CCTV surveillance, use of the Coach Mitra app to track linen distribution and passenger boarding, counselling of bedroll attendants, and police verification of contractors' staff.

Some divisions, including Bhopal, have deployed dedicated AC Coach Attendants for each coach to reduce theft. The Railway Board's 2015 instruction asking passengers to return linen 30 minutes before reaching their destination continues to be followed, with the message printed on linen packets in several divisions.

The Bhusaval Railway Protection Force (RPF) has also stated that stealing railway linen is a non-bailable offence under the Railway Property Act, allowing searches of suspicious passengers' luggage.