Major Rail Operators in Eastern Japan Switching to QR Code Tickets in 2026

East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and seven other major rail operators in the Greater Tokyo region announced plans to phase out the long-standing magnetic paper train tickets in favor of a new QR code ticketing system in 2026.

The磁気チケット (jiki-chiketto) or magnetic paper tickets containing a magnetic strip have been used on Japanese trains since the late 1960s when the first automatic ticket gates were installed. However, this ticketing technology is now being phased out due to cost, efficiency, and environmental concerns.

The eight rail companies making the change are JR East, Tokyo Monorail, Keisei, Keikyu, Shin-Keisei, Seibu Railway, Tobu Railway, and Hokuso Railway. Together they operate many of the major rail lines crisscrossing the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Under the current system, passengers insert the magnetic tickets into the automatic gates when entering and exiting stations. This requires gate machinery with mechanical components to transport and read the tickets.

The new QR code tickets will simply need to be scanned at optical readers, eliminating the need for the moving internal components of current gates. This aims to reduce equipment maintenance costs and ticket jams that can cause congestion.

Additionally, since the magnetic tickets contain metallic components, an extra separation step is required before they can be recycled. The QR code tickets will be made entirely of paper, simplifying the recycling process and making them more environmentally friendly.

While usage of the magnetic tickets has declined to just 5-10% of fare revenue as IC transit card usage grew, the eight companies still see benefits in updating to the new QR code standard for the remaining paper ticket purchases.

The companies also plan to create a shared system to manage the QR code ticketing data across their networks, rather than operating separate data systems as they currently do for magnetic tickets.

For passengers, not having to insert tickets into gates should reduce congestion. However, it remains to be seen what process will be implemented for disposing of or recycling the QR code tickets post-journey, since gates will no longer capture the tickets upon exit.

The transition from the decades-old magnetic tickets to the new QR code system is planned to begin in stages starting in spring 2026 and complete by the end of March 2027 deadline set by the rail operators.

While an iconic part of the Japanese rail experience, the evolution to QR code ticketing aims to create a smoother, more efficient, and environmentally-friendly paper ticketing system in the digital era for train travel in the Tokyo region and beyond.

Source: PR Times