Eurostar Passengers Can Skip Passport Checks Thanks to Face Scans

The high-speed Deutsche Bahn ICE3 InterCity Express at St Pancas International station, October 19, 2010. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Travelling from London to France on Eurostar trains will be made easier with the introduction of a new facial verification system.

The launch of the SmartCheck system at St. Pancras station will enable Eurostar travellers to avoid manual checks of tickets and passports by UK officials.

Passengers must download an app and scan their identity document and verify their face and ticket. When at the station, a screen will detect the passenger’s face and let them through if the recognition is successful.

The SmartCheck system has been developed by iProov, a global technology provider based in London. According to iProov, a biometric-enabled border experience will ensure “non-intrusive and hassle-free” travel as passengers enter or exit a border.

The new service is available to Eurostar Business Premier and Carte Blanche passengers.

Travellers will still have to scan their bags at security checkpoints on the UK side and present their documents to French border control officials upon arrival.

Eurostar runs the high-speed trains that directly link the UK to France and Belgium via the Channel Tunnel. In the post-Brexit and the post-Covid period, its service suffered from congestion and delays.

After the UK’s departure from the European Union at the beginning of 2020, new travel rules came into effect.

Passengers must stamp UK passports for outbound travel and are subject to customs control in France. Brits coming into France who do not have a French visa or residency card are restricted to stays of less than 90 days every 180 days.

In September last year, Eurostar said that additional border checks had resulted in a “significant increase in the processing times at stations.”

In a letter to the Transport Select Committee, Eurostar CEO Gwendoline Cazenave said that the stamping of British passports by continental police added at least 15 seconds to individual passengers’ border crossing times. She said that the automated systems such as e-gates were “less effective.”

In January, Eurostar admitted that hundreds of seats to and from London were deliberately left unsold to avoid congestion at stations.

Addressing the reporters in Brussels earlier this year, Ms. Cazenave said that the company could not offer enough seats because of “this bottleneck at stations.”

“It is vital that the first departures of the day are on time to avoid a knock-on impact. If you delay the first train, then you delay the second and then it’s a very bad customer experience. Our customers say it’s awful,” she added.

Saving Time

According to Ms. Cazenave, the SmartCheck system is a “solution for a faster and seamless check-in experience.” Biometric face recognition will enhance the customer departure journey and increase capacity in stations, said Ms. Cazenave.

A biometric corridor will move security checks away from the station and will save “precious time and space at the border,” said iProov founder Andrew Bud.

Customers should expect a faster, more convenient, less crowded, yet even more secure boarding process, added Mr. Bud.

Eurostar runs a total of 27 trains between the UK and France and Belgium, with each train offering 750 seats. There are 544 seats in standard class and 206 in business premier and standard premier.

With the launch of SmartCheck, Eurostar became the first rail travel operator to adopt biometric face verification, iProov said in its statement.

Eligible passengers at Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted airports can use the ePassport gates and scan their passports on arrival.

There are 270 eGates in place at 15 air and rail ports in the UK to enable quicker travel into the UK, according to the Border Force.

The roll-out of the SmartCheck system on Tuesday follows the trial that took place between December 2021 and April 2022 and was funded by the Department for Transport.