A passenger passes the security check after scanning his face at a subway station in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province on Saturday. Passengers need to upload their photos and other personal information into the security system before using the function. It only takes five seconds for passengers to get through the security door. Photo: IC

Beijing Subway plans to set up a fast security channel system and a white list, and to classify passengers for different levels of security checks through facial recognition technology, media reports said.

The current one-size-fits-all security check method is of low efficiency given that rail transit sees a huge number of passengers, domestic news site bjnews.com.cn reported on Tuesday, citing Zhan Minghui, an official of Beijing's rail transit command center.

Facial recognition technology would be applied to classify passengers during the security process, Zhan said, and Beijing Subway is set to establish a classification standard of passengers to form the corresponding facial information database.

Security staff would be able distinguish passengers through the facial recognition system, and then apply different security screening methods accordingly, Zhan noted.

After the implementation of facial recognition technology, unsuspecting passengers will be able to go through the security screening process quickly, which will save them time, reduce the intensity of work for security staff, and improve the overall security performance, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Wednesday.

Xie Zhengguang, head of Beijing Subway Limited, said that at the same time, it is a measure to shore up the passenger credit system and to enhance the punishment of dishonest behavior, according to bjnews.com.cn.