Photo/Illutration The facial-recognition ticket gate that will be installed in Nagaoka Station in Niigata Prefecture (Provided by East Japan Railway Co.)

East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) will begin a test run this autumn of facial recognition ticket gates to allow passengers to walk through without needing to stop or use physical tickets.

The company announced on April 8 that the experiment will be carried out at Niigata and Nagaoka stations on the Joetsu Shinkansen line in Niigata Prefecture. Each station will have one facial recognition ticket gate.

Participants will be recruited from those who have commuter passes. They will be asked to use the walk-through ticket gates after registering their facial photos.

The test run will be conducted until spring of 2026, and the company will check walking speed, camera angle, distance and the accuracy of the facial recognition technology.

Afterward, the company will expand the experiment to include “Otona no Kyujitsu Club” members and “Shinkansen e-ticket” users.

The company aims to realize walk-through ticket gates, including on local conventional lines, within the next 10 years by utilizing other methods in addition to facial recognition.

Osaka Metro Co. already introduced facial recognition walk-through ticket gates at 130 of its 134 stations from March 25.

Keisei Electric Railway Co., based in Chiba Prefecture, started offering a service that uses facial recognition to issue tickets for the Skyliner express trains for foreign tourists in January.

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