Unload platforms
Let riders off on a platform of their own, before the train rolls into the station empty and ready for the next guests.
Updated 16 October 2026
On many real coasters, riders don't get off where they got on. At the end of the ride the train stops at an unload platform first: the restraints open, the riders step off towards the exit, and the empty train rolls on to the station, restraints already up, where the next guests are waiting. Loading and unloading happen at the same time, on two platforms, and the queue moves faster.
Ultimate Theme Park does this with one sign: utp-unload. Nothing to set up in the administration.
What happens at the platform#
When a train with riders aboard reaches the sign, it always stops there, whether the station is free or not. Then:
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| The train stops | The lap is counted for everybody aboard, for the leaderboards |
| 1 s | The restraints open |
| 4 s | The riders are put out of their seats |
| Then | The train waits until it has been seen empty for a second and a half, so the riders are clear of it |
| Once empty | It rolls on to the station as soon as the station is free. If the station still has a train, it waits at the platform, like on any block. |
A few things are taken care of for you:
- Nobody can climb back in at the platform. The restraints are open to get out, not to get in, so nobody can reach the station already seated and skip the queue.
- The train never leaves with someone aboard. If a seat holds on to a rider, they are put out again, and the wait starts over once they are off.
- An empty train rolls straight through, like over a block: when the station is free, it doesn't stop.
What happens in the station#
The train comes in empty, with its restraints already open. There is nobody to let off, so the station doesn't wait: about a second after the train stops, the gates open for the next guests. If the ride has a safety lock, it is released first, and the gates open a second after it is back in place.
With an operator on duty, the station opens nothing by itself: the operator releases the safety lock, if there is one, and opens the gates, as after any lap.
The lap isn't counted a second time, and the restraints aren't played open again. On the operator panel, the Restraints switch turns to OPEN as soon as the train comes in.
Place the sign#
An unload platform is a block section, so it carries a section number on line 4, like a utp-block. Most of the time it is the last section before the station. For ride 7 with blocks 1 to 4:
[train]
utp-unload
7
5
- Put the sign in the middle of the platform. The train stops centred on it, like it does on the station's sign.
- Leave room for a whole train between the platform and the station: one train unloads while the next one boards.
- Number it in order with your other sections, with no gap: blocks 1, 2, 3, 4, then the platform 5.
When the sign is accepted, the chat says "Sign utp-unload linked to The Plunge." Without a section number, it says "The fourth line must carry the platform's block section number, above zero."
On the operator panel#
A ride with an unload platform gets one more lamp on its panel, Unload. A ride without one doesn't show it.
| The Unload lamp | What it means |
|---|---|
| Off | No train at the platform |
| Orange, blinking | Riders are getting off |
| White | An empty train is waiting there to come into the station |
The white lamp tells the operator that a train is waiting behind them: they're the one the ride is waiting for. While they hold the post and no train is in the station, the display says how close the next one is: Train unloading, then Train coming in.
There's nothing to press for the platform: it lets its riders off the same way with or without an operator on duty.
Emergency stop and reset#
- The emergency stop holds the platform too: a train being unloaded stays where it is, restraints as they are. Release it and the unloading carries on from where it was.
/utp ride reset 7puts any riders still at the platform out at once, then frees the ride as usual. On a coaster whose transfer table rebuilds its fleet, a reset is refused while anybody is aboard, as always: wait for the platform to let them off.