DART has some odd systems. The original trains used on it were made by Linke Hoffman Busche but the traction motors and controls were done by GEC - they'd date from 1983 or so. Those coaches were later refurbished by Siemens and the rest of the fleet was built by Tokyu Car of Japan.

The DLR in London also used Linke Hoffman Busche but they're light rail.

In general Irish Rail specs tend to be quite different to continental Europe as the networks don't and won't ever interconnect. The gauge is wider 1600mm as opposed to 1435mm and there are significant differences in signaling systems. Ireland used track circuits with various frequencies to indicate the status of the next signal and speed. The system used on the DART actually allows for automation. There's no indication of any movement towards harmonised European signalling.

The only international services are to Northern Ireland and they just follow the same standards as we do so it doesn't make any difference.

I'd say they used 1500V DC because it was practical. The Tyne & Weir (Newcastle) Metro dates from around the same era also used 1500V DC

The recent tender for DART vehicles specified dual voltage 25kV AC & 1500V DC as there will be new electrified services put in place around Dublin.

There's some vague idea of electric intercity services to Cork and possibly Belfast. There's never been any long distance electric trains here. At present all long distance rail is diesel operated mostly by relatively new Hyundai built DMUs, except on the two more serious imywedify routes Dublin-Cork and Dublin-Belfast which use push-pull diesel with fairly high spec coaches. Top speeds are only 160km/h and the trains are only spec'd for up to 200km/h theoretical absolute max but the network limits them to 160.

It's a low density pop, the longest journeys less than 3 hours and there's no transcontinental type links so in generally it's a pretty low speed setup by European standards.

But I'd say all of the above is why they didn't really pay much attention to pan EU systems.

Last edited by djk; 11/25/18 06:19 PM.