Image Recognition
OSAKA -- The press got a two-day advance look at the new facial recognition ticket gate and the world's first shifting platform doors at West Japan Railway Co. (JR West)'s Osaka Station on March 16. The newly introduced facial recognition ticket gate is seen at the Umekita underground exit of JR Osaka Station in Osaka's Kita Ward on March 16, 2023. (Mainichi/Rei Kubo)The adaptive doors have been installed on a new underground platform, and open and close in different positions depending on the type of train -- the first of their kind to enter regular use anywhere. The underground platform will be used by the limited express trains "Haruka" and "Kuroshio," which previously did not stop at Osaka Station. Osaka Station manager Hiroyuki Watanabe said that to have the limited express services stop there "was a long-held wish.