Tobu Railway will introduce walk-through facial recognition ticket gates utilizing the biometric authentication service “SAKULaLa” at two stations on the Tobu Tojo Line—Ikebukuro Station and Kami-Itabashi Station—starting July 15.
This system allows passengers to pass through without having to tap an IC card or smartphone—they can simply walk through with nothing in their hands—making it easier for passengers traveling with children or carrying large luggage to pass through without any hassle. This is the second line to introduce facial recognition ticket gates, following the Tobu Utsunomiya Line, and marks the first such implementation in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Moving forward, the system will be introduced at Funabashi Station and Magomezawa Station on the Tobu Urban Park Line by September. In addition, the company will proceed with the development of “hybrid facial recognition and IC card” ticket gates—which offer high flexibility by utilizing existing space and existing ticket gates—during fiscal year 2026. Furthermore, the company plans to expand the adoption of SAKULaLa to nearby commercial facilities, such as Tobu Department Store, to broaden the coverage of “hands-free” services—including payment during shopping.
SAKULaLa is a system that allows users to register their personal information (such as age, membership details, credit card numbers, and transit IC card numbers) and biometric data (finger vein patterns and facial features) in advance, enabling them to verify their identity and make payments simply by scanning their finger or face at facilities equipped with SAKULaLa. As of July 2026, the number of registered users exceeded 20,000.
The system being introduced at stations on the Tōjō Line this time can be integrated with “SAKULaLa” simply by adding facial recognition cameras to existing ticket gates manufactured by major Japanese companies such as Omron Social Solutions, Nippon Signal, and Toshiba.
Since there is no need to replace the entire ticket gate unit, this offers the advantage of significantly reducing both the initial implementation costs and the construction period for railway companies. In terms of information management, security is enhanced through the use of Hitachi, Ltd.’s proprietary “Public Biometric Infrastructure (PBI)” technology—a system that encrypts biometric data in a way that makes it impossible to reconstruct.
Tobu Railway has been rolling out facial recognition ticket gates at stations on the Tobu Utsunomiya Line since November 2025. The company is now expanding this initiative to stations such as Ikebukuro Station—its largest terminal, which handles approximately 420,000 passengers daily—to verify the system’s processing speed and operational feasibility in crowded environments.
© Source travel watch