NFC identity verification: boosting rail operator safety and efficiency
Signicat was approached by a European train operator who needed to put measures in place to protect ticket controllers (or inspectors) from abuse when issuing fines to fare avoiding passengers on board trains.
The challenge
Previously when issuing a fine, controllers needed to collect the offending passenger’s identity document and manually enter their personal information. Not only was this process cumbersome, slow, and error-prone, but controllers are not trained identity document experts, leaving them unsure if the document they were looking at was genuine. The inefficient nature of this method left controllers open to abuse from passengers and created an environment in which staff feared for their safety or may have been more likely to waive fines. Each moment spent inputting personal information and waiting for the fine to be issued increased the likelihood of assault on controllers, both verbal and physical.
A European rail carrier saw more than a 34% increase in staff injuries due to aggressive passengers against staff in 2024.
The search for the solution
Controllers needed the fastest possible method to collect accurate personal information and facilitate the issuing of fines to offenders. Rather than rely on cumbersome and costly specialist technology to collect identity document data, such as handheld devices that are used to read frequent travellers rail cards, the rail operator decided to research a solution that could be easily implemented into the operator-issued trusted smartphones that the controllers were also equipped with. The use of smartphones is growing given these also serve as instant communications tool for inspectors and other security staff.
Researching such a method of data gathering led them to mobile identity verification technologies that do so quickly via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) or NFC technology. However, the operators lab and field tests revealed several key issues with OCR technologies that rendered them unsuitable for the operator’s use case.
- Reliance on an internet connection, often not present on fast moving trains
- Reliance on referrals to human agents, meaning a verification can take several minutes
- Data reading mistakes, leading to manual correction Low level of confidence in the verification of document authenticity results
- Poor UX on fast moving and unstable trains
Lab testing of NFC-based identity verification mitigated all of these issues and met all other requirements. ReadID is already utilised throughout the travel industry for remote pre-registration of passenger information. Despite digitisation of travel processes, there is growth in the need for in-person use cases of NFC-based identity verification. Signicat’s ReadID solution offered a client-only SDK that could be easily and quickly implemented into an app for the controllers on their trusted devices. All verification is done on their device and with no internet connection or wait time for human agents required.
Reading the NFC chip also provided the highest level of assurance that the identity document was real and genuine. Any attempt of duplication or manipulation was detected thanks to the cryptographic security of the document chip.
More importantly for the controllers aboard the train, the reading process takes seconds, and data is read 100% correctly every time, no need for manual correction. The face image is also available in its original high resolution (and sometimes in colour depending on the country and document type), making face to face assurance the identity document is with the rightful holder easy for controllers.
The result
After lab and field testing, the rail operator and their staff were happy with the extra security ReadID provided and expanded its use to more controllers throughout the rail network. ReadID is able to extract personal information from an identity document in seconds, drastically reducing the window in which controllers may face abuse on trains.
More than 170 countries worldwide issue chipped identity documents, with Europe in particular having excellent coverage due to the prevalence of Regulation (EU) 2019/1157 for ICAO 9303 compliant identity cards. This makes it easy for controllers to issue fines to national and international passengers avoiding fares, which was previously a cumbersome task that could lead to potential fines being waived. Now any chipped ID document can be read securely and swiftly by any controller, with no document expertise required. For instances of non-chipped documents, an Optical fallback is available to ensure every situation is covered for controller and passenger safety.
Any rail operator can utilise ReadID, with the technology available stand-alone or easily implemented into their own app via an SDK, This enables them to manage it effectively in-house and ensure that the software remains up to date and integrates with other services used to issue fines in the operator’s system.
Protect your staff aboard your trains from abuse by enabling them with the most accurate and efficient tool for accurate fine issuance, ReadID’s NFC identity verification.
