page_title: Kingda Ka
section_title: Trains and station
hierarchical_section_title: Kingda Ka / Ride experience / Trains and station
caption_attribution_description: Kingda Ka's switch track
context_page_description: Kingda Ka is a launched roller coaster located at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey. Designed by Werner Stengel, Kingda Ka is an Accelerator Coaster model from Intamin that opened as the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world on May 21, 2005. It is also the second-ever strata coaster, a roller coaster taller than 400 feet; Top Thrill Dragster was the first and previously held both records. Intamin subcontracted Stakotra to assist with construction.
  The train is launched by a hydraulic launch mechanism, accelerating to 128 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds. The train climbs the main top hat tower element at the end of the launch track, reaching a height of 456 feet, before dropping 418 feet and completing the course in 28 seconds. While Kingda Ka is still the tallest, its speed record was broken by Formula Rossa when it opened at Ferrari World in 2010.
context_section_description: Kingda Ka's four trains are color-coded for easy identification (green, dark blue, teal, and orange) and are numbered; the four colors are also used for the seats and restraints. Each train seats 18 people (two per row). The rear car has one row, while the rest have two. The rear row of each car is positioned higher than its front row for better visibility.
  Each of Kingda Ka's trains has an extra row of seat mounts. The panels could be removed for the installation of additional seats in the future. This modification would increase the capacity of each train from 18 to 20, and the hourly capacity of the coaster from 1400 to 1600 riders per hour. Kingda Ka's station is prepared for this modification, with entrance gates for the currently-nonexistent row of seats.
  
  Kingda Ka's over-the-shoulder restraint system consists of a thick, rigid lap bar and two thin, flexible over-the-shoulder restraints. Because the over-the-shoulder portions of the restraint are not rigid, the hand grips are mounted to the lap bar. Kingda Ka's restraints are also held down by a belt, in case the main locking system fails. To speed loading, riders are asked to secure their own restraints if possible.
   Kingda Ka's station has two parallel tracks, with switch tracks at the entrance and exit. Each of the station's tracks is designed to accommodate two trains, so each of the four trains can be operated from its own station. While all of the trains are mechanically identical and able to load and unload at each of the four individual station bays, the original plan was for all trains to operate at the same time and for each train to load and unload at their own station. During normal operation, trains on one side are loaded while trains on the other side are launched. When both sides of the station are in use, an employee directs riders in line to go to a particular side, where they can choose to sit anywhere within the train. During recent seasons, it has become common that only one train bay (the forward one on the side opposite of the parking lot) will be used for the loading, unloading, and dispatching of the trains and that the other train or trains in operation on any given day wait either in the station behind a loading/unloading train or outside of the station on the brakes that follow the second hill. Two operators load, check and dispatch each train; another launches the trains. Kingda Ka's music is by Safri Duo; almost their entire Episode II album is played in the queue and station. Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger", played by DJ Quicksilver, may also be heard in the queue and station.
caption: Switch track at the station's exit
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