A regional French park in the Aube is spending €18 million on a coaster with no lift hill, no conventional circuit and a launch that goes both ways. If that sounds like a lot of money for a ride that runs along one stretch of track, it is, and the engineering is the reason.
What happened
Nigloland, in Dolancourt in the Grand Est region of France, unveiled Supersonic 1887 in June 2026, and trade outlets including UK Theme Park Spy and the French site Parc Attraction Loisirs reported the details around 19 to 22 June. It is a steel shuttle coaster built by Mack Rides, due in 2027, the year the park marks its 40th anniversary. The park has described it as the largest investment in its history.
Construction is under way. Coasterpedia’s entry, last updated on 20 October 2026, records that the first track and supports have gone up and the turntable station has been installed. No exact opening date has been announced. One French report mentioned March 2027, but that came from a social media clip embedded in the article, not from the park, so treat it as unconfirmed.
The detail
The figures below agree across RCDB, Coasterpedia and the French trade press. Where sources conflict, we have left the number out and said so.
| Supersonic 1887 | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Mack Rides (Stryker model, per RCDB and Coasterpedia) |
| Type | Steel, sit-down, shuttle launch coaster |
| Maximum height | 47 m (154 ft) |
| Top speed | 91 km/h (57 mph) |
| Track length | 355 m (1,165 ft) |
| Inversions | 3 (a vertical loop is among them) |
| Trains | 2, each seating 16 (four rows of four) |
| Minimum height | 130 cm (4 ft 3 in) |
| Cost | €18 million |
| Opening | 2027 |
Two figures are disputed. The number of launches is given as two by RCDB and as three launch zones (six passes in total) by the French press and Coasterpedia. The hourly capacity is given as 800 by RCDB and 750 by Coasterpedia. We will wait for the park to settle both. Early reports also gave a height of around 43 m, which the sources now supersede with 47 m.
The park has built the story around the 1887 Universal Exhibition, with a fictional engineer, Émile Delaroche, presenting an experimental steam vehicle. Parc Attraction Loisirs reports that the ride includes a new inversion the park calls the “Supersonic Spin”. We cannot verify that no coaster has done it before, and the park’s own wording is “inédite” (unseen), not “world’s first”, so we are not repeating a record claim nobody has made.
What it actually means
A shuttle coaster has no circuit. The train is launched out of the station, climbs a tall spike, stalls, and rolls back through the station to climb a second spike at the other end. That is why a 355 m (1,165 ft) track can deliver a much longer ride: the French press puts the distance travelled at about 770 m, because the train covers the same ground more than once.
The tool that makes it possible is the LSM, or linear synchronous motor. As our launch coasters explainer sets out, an LSM is an electric motor laid flat, with computer-switched electromagnets in the track pulling magnets on the train along. It has no cable to wind back and no catch car, so it can accelerate the same train forwards, then backwards, then forwards again, with the strength of each push controlled digitally. A hydraulic launch would struggle with that kind of repeated back-and-forth.
Why would a park choose this over a conventional circuit? Our reading, not the park’s stated reason, is footprint: a shuttle layout fits a 47 m ride, three inversions and repeated launches onto 355 m of track, where a circuit coaster of similar intensity would need far more land and steel.
Mack is a reasonable choice. As our manufacturers guide notes, it has a strong record with launch, spinning and water coasters. The risk lies elsewhere: a shuttle ride lives or dies on how quickly it can cycle two trains over one stretch of track, and the park has not explained how it will do that. Capacity is the thing to watch, and the sources cannot yet agree on it.
Mack is busy in Europe. It is also working on a custom water coaster for Paultons Park and a family coaster to replace Euro-Mir at Europa-Park, both of which are far gentler than this.
The Dispatch verdict
An ambitious bet from a regional park, and the right kind of one: a compact, technically interesting layout from a manufacturer with a good record. The engineering story is sound. What we do not yet know is how smoothly it will run, how long the queue will be, and whether the “Supersonic Spin” is as novel as the park suggests. Until Nigloland publishes its launch count and capacity, treat the opening as promising and the numbers as provisional.
Further reading: how LSM and hydraulic launches work, our guide to the manufacturers, Mack’s water coaster for Paultons Park and Europa-Park’s Euro-Mir replacement.