Eurostar to embrace contactless ticket and border checks

Passengers departing London St Pancras will soon be able to complete ticket and border checks without contact with people or hardware.

The concept has already been trialled in airports to speed up and safely manage immigration, and will debut at St Pancras in March 2021.

The developer behind the technology underpinning the system, iProov, claims the rollout will be a world first, enabling passengers to choose to travel without physical tickets or documentation "in a way that is safe and secure".

It has been backed and funded by the Department for Transport (DfT) as part of the First of a Kind competition run by Innovate UK, which supports research, development and innovation across the UK rail industry. The DfT proposes to cover the entire project cost of £388,440.

“What started off as a project to reduce travel congestion and keep passengers moving is now going to help keep people safe in a pandemic world through social distancing and contactless interaction," said iProov founder and chief executive Andrew Bud.