Another desperately poor example of late platform changes occurred at Birmingham New Street yesterday (Friday 28th October), involving 1F34 0803 to Liverpool Lime Street and 9S44 0815 to Edinburgh (0643 ex Euston).
9S44 was shown on the platform screens as the next train from Platform 4, with 1F34, due to late arrival of its inward working, shown as the second train at Platform 4, albeit expected at around 0815 also. So, at 0814, with the screens still displaying Edinburgh, an 8-car 350 (stock for 1F34) arrives in Platform 4 - Cue hurried phone calls from Platform staff with 9S44 now moved to Platform 3 and a mass exodus of passengers and luggage via stairs, escalators and lifts from 3 to 4. Thanks to its late inward train, 1F34 departed 19 minutes late at 0822, with 9S44 arriving 8 minutes late and departing 10 minutes late, following 1F34. As a result of all this, and losing its path, 9S44, which had been only 2 minutes late at Proof House Junction, just outside New Street, was 35 minutes late at Carlisle.
Perhaps the signallers controlling New St were short-staffed, or under particular pressure at the time, but surely someone could have realised that an 8-car 350 and a Pendolino cannot possibly occupy the same platform at the same time, and one of the services should have been replatformed in advance. Just another incident that gave passengers a terrible impression of the competence and management of our railway.