Station

The train leaving the station on the Runaway Mine Train at Alton Towers

A station (sometimes called a loading platform) is a section of track on a tracked ride or coaster where riders enter and exit the cars. Stations use brakes to hold the train and friction wheels or LIMs to propel it forwards. Alternatively, the station may have a slight decline to allow the train to roll out under gravity.

Types

Dual station

The mechanism used for switching between the two tracks on Kingda Ka's dual station

A dual station is a type of station used on a small number of roller coasters and Log Flumes. It consists of two stations parallel to each other. The track splits before entering the station, and combines after departing.

This means a train can load riders while another train unloads, theoretically increasing the hourly capacity of the roller coaster.

Both Vekoma and Bolliger & Mabillard have used a dual station on their flying roller coasters, due to concerns about how quickly the particular style of trains could be loaded and unloaded in correlation to the theoretical dispatch times. Intamin incorporated a dual station into their earlier Accelerator Coaster installations.

Roller coaster	Amusement park	Company	Year
Firehawk Formerly X-Flight	Kings Island Geauga Lake	Vekoma	2007 2001
Batwing	Six Flags America	Vekoma	2001
Galactica	Alton Towers	Bolliger & Mabillard	2002
Superman Ultimate Flight	Six Flags Over Georgia	Bolliger & Mabillard	2002
Storm Runner	Hersheypark	Intamin	2004
Revenge of the Mummy	Universal Studios Florida	Premier Rides	2004
Kingda Ka	Six Flags Great Adventure	Intamin	2005
Tatsu	Six Flags Magic Mountain	Bolliger & Mabillard	2006
Manta	SeaWorld Orlando	Bolliger & Mabillard	2009
Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts	Universal Studios Florida	Intamin	2014
Acrobat	Nagashima Spa Land	Bolliger & Mabillard	2015
Flying Dinosaur	Universal Studios Japan	Bolliger & Mabillard	2016

Sliding station

A sliding station is a type of station which can hold two trains at once. The platform slides or rotates to allow one train to load and unload riders while the other is in operation.

Sliding stations have been used on shuttle roller coasters to increase their capacity and also on short full-circuit roller coasters where the train completes more than one circuit of the track layout.

The first known roller coaster to have a sliding station is Pinfari's Big Apple turntable model. Introduced in the early 1980s, there are three known installations. The station is situated on a circular platform which rotates.

Fly-through station

A feature on some rides (mainly Boomerang installations) is a fly-through station. This involves the train passing through the station at high speed. An example of this is Boomerang at Knott's Berry Farm.

Turntable station

Turntable station on Viking River Splash at Legoland Windsor

Turntable stations are sometimes employed on Log Flumes and River Rapids rides. These employ a rotating circular platform whose edge moves at the same rate as the ride vehicles around it. Turntable stations allow boading and unboarding to take place without the vehicle coming to a stop.

Layout

Guests waiting behind air-gates.

On larger rides and coasters, air-gates are often used to control when guests can board the train. They are positioned such that they line up with the rows of the train and are operated from the control panel by the ride operator. Some roller coasters have additional queuing space for the front and back rows of the train, guaranteeing guests that are willing to wait longer a seat in the front or back row.