JR East Plans Facial Recognition System Experiment at Joetsu Shinkansen Ticket Gates; Company Hopes to Establish ‘Walk-Through’ Ticket Gates within 10 Years

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:03 JST, April 9, 2025

The East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) announced Tuesday it plans to experimentally deploy a system that will use facial recognition technology to allow passengers to move through ticket gates for the Joetsu Shinkansen bullet train line at Niigata and Nagaoka stations.

The company will confirm the system’s accuracy and determine the best position to install the devices, among other measures, with the goal of establishing ‘walk-through’ ticket gates within the next 10 years.

The experiment will start around autumn this year and continue until spring 2026, and JR East will ask for participation from passengers who have passes for the Shinkansen line section between the two stations.

At Niigata Station, facial recognition devices from NEC Corp. will be attached to existing ticket gates. At Nagaoka Station, new gates will be installed that will incorporate facial recognition devices from Panasonic Connect Co.

Facial recognition systems for passengers have already been introduced in airports in Japan and abroad and are scheduled to be used to allow staff through entrance gates at the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo.

If facial recognition systems for train lines are realized, passengers will be able to pass through ticket wickets without using IC cards or paper tickets, even if their hands are occupied by large baggage or baby strollers.

JR East President Yoichi Kise said at a press conference Tuesday, “The system will be so easy to use that it will work even for passengers wearing glasses or masks.”