Union calls for Melbourne metro opening delay as premier insists it's safe

Melbourne's new metro station has been declared completely safe ahead of Sunday's opening, but the firefighters union wants it held off, claiming there's a dangerous radio fault.

Premier Jacinta Allan says that claim is a scare campaign about a pay battle rather than any actual risk.

She was at Parkville Station today to declare "the countdown is absolutely on".

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The $13.5 billion project is days away from taking passengers, and it's looking doubtful the full retail fitout will be ready in time.

There's a much bigger worry according to the union for firefighters, which is sounding a dire warning about comms in the tunnel.

Peter Marshall from the United Firefighters Union said: "These radios don't work. The Fire Rescue Victoria radios do not work. They need to be reprogrammed."

That's something he says would take months.

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"If there is an incident down in the tunnel, you will not be rescued," he said.

That's nonsense according to the premier.

"The claims that have been made by the union today are wrong and they've also been clearly rejected by the rail safety regulator, who is the expert on this matter," Allan said.

Metro Trains chief executive Raymond O'Flaherty said they have "state of the art" fire systems.

"Fire Rescue Victoria have carried out a lot of tests of the systems," he said.

"Everything is safe and we're absolutely ready to go."

It's not enough to silence the union.

"What we're seeing here is political expediency over public safety," Marshall said.

The premier hit back, suggesting a pay fight is being put ahead of public confidence.

"These claims are being made perhaps more for industrial purposes than anything else," Allen said.

Passengers can try out the new trains from Sunday.