Russian Railways cuts biometric boarding time on Lastochka trains to 15 seconds

Biometric identification and boarding on Lastochka trains has been reduced from 30 to 15 seconds over six months, according to Russian Railways materials presented on October 16.

Russian Railways said the time was close to checks where a conductor manually enters passport details in a terminal and verifies the ticket.

The pilot began in April 2026. It now covers Lastochka departures from Moscow to Kostroma, Ivanovo and Nizhny Novgorod and from Nizhny Novgorod to Ivanovo and Kirov.

The company is implementing the service with the Centre for Biometric Technologies. Sapsan testing began in October, with general passenger access planned for 2027.