NOW, A DRUGS SCANDAL HITS THE RAILWAYS

CITYRAIL has suspended an entire class of trainee guards amid claims a
female classmate's drink was spiked to take advantage of her and that drugs
were found in their classroom.In the latest drama to hit the railways,
seven trainee guards have been stood down on full pay pending an inquiry
over the scandal at State Rail's Petersham Training College.

A CityRail spokesman confirmed an inquiry was under way into the behaviour
of the new recruits who were to be on the trains in time for the Olympic Games.

"Allegations have been made which we are currently investigating
thoroughly," the spokes-man said.

"We wish to finalise our investigation as a matter of priority."

He would not elaborate on the details of the allegations.

But The Daily Telegraph has learned that on August 3 police were called
after a female trainee guard returned from lunch drunk claiming her drink
had been spiked by a classmate.

She demanded the matter be taken seriously as the perpetrators may have
wanted to take advantage of her.

During a subsequent police visit, a bag of marijuana was found hidden in
the classroom used by the trainees.

The trainees accused each other when questioned.

All seven recruits, who were part way into their three-month training
program, had no prior experience on the rail network.

The incident comes just weeks after Rail Co-ordinator-General Ron Christie
admitted there were problems with the training of rookie drivers following
a series of missed red lights.

An independent expert from Queensland Rail has been hired , at a cost of
$25,000 , to review driver training.

The spokesman said none of the trainee guards had been in contact with
CityRail customers.

The scandal comes as CityRail's ongoing problems have begun gaining
overseas media attention in the lead-up to the Games.

Opposition Leader Kerry Chikarovski yesterday raised in Parliament a
critical article in The New York Times focusing on signal failures,
maintenance problems and derailments.

According to the article run on August 14, Sydney's trains were described
as being "wracked by delays, errors and incompetence".

Mrs Chikarovski asked Premier Bob Carr how much damage the article would do
to the local tourist industry.

Mr Carr repeated his strategy of agreeing that the rail network was
substandard.

"We've never resiled from the poor performance of public transport in
recent times," Mr Carr said.