Eurostar passengers departing London will be able to avoid manual ticket and passport checks by British officials through a new facial verification system.
The aim of introducing the technology at St Pancras Station is to ease congestion.
To participate, passengers must use the app to scan their ID and verify their face and ticket before travelling.
At the station, they walk up to the screen and their face is detected.
If approved, they can pass through doors that open automatically.
The SmartCheck system was developed by iProov and is available for Business Premier and Carte Blanche passengers.
Baggage will still be scanned by security personnel and passports will continue to be checked by Paris border officials.
News emerged earlier this year that the Eurostar had been forced to leave hundreds of seats empty Take the train to and from London to avoid long queues at the station.
Things have since improved, but dozens of seats on some services are no longer for sale.
Post-Brexit, French border officials have stepped up checks, significantly increasing the time it takes at stations to process passengers.
eurostar Gwendoline Cazenave, chief executive, said: “Providing customers with a seamless station experience is a top priority for Eurostar.
“By introducing SmartCheck, we are the first rail travel operator to adopt biometric face verification.
“This innovation will improve the departure journey for our customers, which is critical to delivering the unique Eurostar travel experience.”
read more:
Eurostar to cancel direct train between London and Disneyland Paris due to Brexit
France vows financial support to ‘maintain Eurostar strategic link with UK’
Andrew Bud, CEO of iProov, said: “By creating biometric corridors, we are moving security checks away from stations, saving valuable time and space at the border and simplifying the boarding process, making it faster, More convenient, less crowded, less stressful, but safer.”
Heathrow Airport began trials of facial biometric scanners in 2019, but the project was abandoned as passenger numbers plummeted due to the coronavirus pandemic.