Avanti West Coast has issued a statement over travel arrangements for the FA Cup final - as thousands of football fans from Manchester are set to descend on the capital.
Manchester United will take on derby rivals Manchester City for the clash at Wembley in June, after United's nail-biting penalty-shootout victory against Brighton on Sunday.
The final takes place at the London stadium at 3pm on June 3, with scores of fans due to make the journey from Manchester by train.
READ MORE: Join the FREE Manchester Evening News WhatsApp community
But following United's win, confirming the all-Manchester final, fans took to social media to express concerns over the prospect of travelling with Avanti West Coast.
It comes after months of disruption which has seen the viability of the train operator's contract with Manchester under fire.
Passengers were left gobsmacked last month after the firm had its contract extended for a further six months - as the Department for Transport said performance had been 'steadily improving.'
The newly-appointed manager director of Avanti, who took to the post at the end of March, promised the train operator had 'turned a corner' following months of delays and cancellations.
Avanti West Coast told the M.E.N they had already been in touch with both football clubs and plan to be able to update all customers, including fans travelling to the final, in 'due course.'
Leader of Manchester City Council, Bev Craig, wrote on Twitter on Sunday: "God that was nerve wracking. Here's to an all Manchester final." She followed it up with a tweet saying: "All that stands in the way now is Avanti trains. What could possibly go wrong."
Stanley Chow wrote: "It's gonna be fun getting to the final from Manchester... here's your chance #Avanti to prove yourself."
Another Twitter user said: "Saturday late afternoon kick off and Avanti trains to get you there and back. That should be a fun day for Manchester."
Tagging the train operator, David Marsden tweeted: "Are you planning to run extra trains from Manchester to London on FA Cup final day? Possibly separate trains for City and United fans?"
The firm replied: "Hi David, as it stands we're not aware of any additional services being run but that may change closer to the time. No, we wouldn't run separate trains for football fans."
As it stands, the train operator appears to be running a normal service on Saturday 3 June, with the last train back to Manchester scheduled for 9.01pm from London Euston.
An Avanti West Coast spokesperson told the M.E.N: "We are working with our partners and we’ve already been in touch with both clubs with a view to getting information out to fans looking to travel to Wembley by train.
"We expect to be in a position to update all our customers, including fans travelling to the final, in due course with the latest travel advice once our plans have been finalised."
Read more of today's top stories here
READ NEXT:
- The 'worst' street where people ask how many more will die
- Prisoners 'running the wings', 'inmates off their t*ts', staff who have 'lost control' - the jail that's had £1bn of public money
- Man raped woman in the woods - then attacked brave dog walker who intervened
- People forced to walk down the Big One as it stops mid-ride AGAIN for second time in weeks
- Manchester's real-life Peaky Blinders only feared one thing
