Why are SWR Alton/Basingstoke services stopping at Esher today?

[ivorytoast28]

I boarded a late afternoon train from Alton to Waterloo which stopped at Esher just after 5pm despite the boards not showing it as doing so. The station was empty, a couple of people got on, noone got off but certainly didn't seem to be anything really deserving of a stop going on and everyone seemed a bit confused as to why it stopped. A bit of research showed that this was happening with all Basingstoke/alton to Waterloo trains. Esher is near sandown racecourse which had no race today though did have a mcfly concert, maybe that was it? But seemed odd as it could only be a few thousand people at best and looking at their schedule they regularly hold similar events without extra trains stopping, the capacity certainly no more than the station could have handled without the extra stops. Plus the all day stops are more than were given to Wimbledon for a world renowned tournament. Any idea what caused this?

 

[SouthernOne]

There is horse racing tonight at Sandown Park with McFly playing afterwards.

 

[Class15]

There is horse racing tonight at Sandown Park with McFly playing afterwards.

I’m curious why the stops were more than those given to Wimbledon?

 

[MCR247]

I’m curious why the stops were more than those given to Wimbledon?

Esher is on the slow lines, and the trains making the extra stops would already pass through on these platforms. There’s also more capacity on the slows than the fasts.

Stopping extra trains at Wimbledon means stopping trains on the fast lines. Which means cutting trains to some SWR destinations as a result.

Not everything makes a good comparison

 

[infobleep]

Esher is on the slow lines, and the trains making the extra stops would already pass through on these platforms. There’s also more capacity on the slows than the fasts.

Stopping extra trains at Wimbledon means stopping trains on the fast lines. Which means cutting trains to some SWR destinations as a result.

Not everything makes a good comparison

Yet during Wimbledon tennis championship, some fast line trains do stop at Wimbledon in both directions. When I came across this I was slightly surprised it was even possible.