Hitachi Rail has completed a trial of hands-free opening of station gates using ultra-wideband technology at Amsterdam Centraal station, together with metro and tram operator GVB, according to railwaygazette.com.

The pilot tested automated check-in and gate access without the passenger needing to present a ticket or payment device. The small-scale proof of concept trial aims to make station access faster and smoother during peak hours, allowing passengers to walk through gates without taking out a card or phone.

The technology relies on ultra-wideband short-distance radio to provide high-precision positioning. David Romeur, technical lead for Hitachi Rail’s Paris-based ticketing engineering team for the Netherlands, explained that while Bluetooth determines proximity using signal strength, UWB measures distance using the time of flight of radio signals. By communicating between an antenna on the gate and a token or smartphone, the system has an accuracy of around 100 mm. ‘The main improvement for passengers is that it is really a seamless way to cross the gates’, says Romeur.

The initial demonstration in Amsterdam, part of the FP1-MOTIONAL research workstream within the Europe’s Rail R&D programme, used travel tags instead of smartphones, allowing testers to cross the gate line unhindered while carrying bags or laptops. Observing use of UWB technology on gates in a real-world environment was a crucial aspect of the pilot, as Romeur believed that ‘showing it in a station is really different than in a lab’. The trial phase started at the end of 2025 and was completed by July.

While not used in public transport yet, the underlying technology is already becoming increasingly common in consumer applications, for example as an alternative to car keys. For rail passengers, the hands-free approach could improve accessibility for passengers with mobility challenges.

Before UWB can be widely adopted on public transport, industry standards for low-level communication must be finalised by FiRa, an industry alliance for UWB technology. With public transport use cases currently at the release candidacy stage, Romeur explained that ‘the next step will be to have this passage management in line with the full FiRa specification’.

Integrating this technology directly into smartphones will be essential for widespread adoption, as relying on external battery-powered tags is not viable for the general public. Romeur anticipates further testing to refine the system, though no further trials have yet been agreed.

This hands-free trial arrives as the Netherlands undergoes a major ticketing transformation, with conventional smart cards now being phased out. Romeur says that ‘the Netherlands has been one of the first countries with a nationwide public transport ticket system’, but the ubiquitous OV-chipkaart will be discontinued by the end of 2027 as it is superseded by the account-based OVpay platform.

The nationwide rollout of OVpay was completed in June 2023, creating an open-loop system that allows passengers to travel using debit cards, credit cards, or mobile wallets. Looking ahead to the potential of UWB validation, Romeur says that ‘we see an interest from various operators, but I can imagine that the Netherlands will also be one of the first ones with this technology’.