Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

Japanese conglomerate Hitachi Ltd. and rail operator Tobu Railway Co. on Thursday announced that they have developed a system to retrofit existing automatic train station fare gates with dedicated cameras that will allow riders to pass through using facial recognition technology.

The system can be deployed in a short period of time at a relatively low cost because doing so does not require replacing the fare gates themselves, according to the announcement. With the system, users will no longer need to tap their prepaid transportation cards to enter.

The new system, which Hitachi and Tobu aim to eventually expand nationwide, will be first introduced at the Tobu Tojo Line's Ikebukuro and Kami-Itabashi stations on Wednesday. Users will need to link their facial image data to their commuter pass information and register for a biometric authentication service developed by the two companies.

Hitachi and Tobu developed the system using facial recognition technology from Panasonic Holdings Corp. They also partnered with three ticket gate manufacturers to enable the retrofitting of dedicated facial recognition cameras. The two companies aim to expand the system to other railway operators starting next fiscal year.

Among other railway operators, Osaka Metro Co. has already introduced facial recognition ticket gates, and East Japan Railway Co. has conducted test runs of similar technology at some stations on the Joetsu Shinkansen line.

Hitachi and Tobu will also work on introducing facial recognition payment systems at commercial facilities, such as Tobu department stores, to improve customer convenience.

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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.

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July 10, 2026 03:06 ET (07:06 GMT)

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