Tobu Railway stock in focus as TJ Liner adds face boarding

Tobu Railway is preparing a facial-recognition boarding service for selected TJ Liner trains from Thursday, November 5. Mobile ID World reported the plan on Friday, October 30.

Face boarding targets TJ Liner

The service will cover outbound reserved-seat TJ Liner trains departing Ikebukuro Station on Tobu's Tojo Line in the Tokyo area. Eligible passengers will be able to pass through the gate without presenting a smartphone, IC card or paper ticket.

Passengers must reserve a seat through Tobu's Tobuchike ticketless booking service and register the relevant TOBU POINT ID with SAKULaLa. The reservation is then linked to the passenger's face, allowing facial recognition to confirm access at the gate.

Biometric platform supports wider services

SAKULaLa has been offered by Hitachi and Tobu since 2024. Facial-recognition gates are already available at selected stations on the Utsunomiya, Nikko, Tojo and Urban Park lines, alongside uses for payments and loyalty points at Tobu group stores, restaurants, hotels and sports clubs.

Tobu plans to award 50 TOBU POINTs to riders who use face boarding at least once by December 25. A SAKULaLa exhibition and experience corner is also scheduled for the Tobu Department Store's Ikebukuro main store from November 1 through March 31, 2027.

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Tobu Railway's transport and property network

Tobu Railway operates the largest private railway system in the Kanto region, linking Tokyo with Chiba, Saitama, Tochigi and Gunma across 463.3 kilometers of track. Its group also runs hotels, theme parks, golf courses, health clubs, department stores and residential and commercial property businesses. The company's corporate profile describes the railway network as the group's core regional platform.