A tank car is a Wagon specialized in the rail-bound transport of products Liquide S or powders. There exists a large variety of materials of this type, adapted to the various types of matters which can be transported.

The tank car can be isolated thermically or not, pressurized or not, and conceived for a single or multiple loading. The nonpressurized coaches have their partly low valves and fittings under the cistern for unloading, and can have an opening of entry and a dome, sheltering various pipings at the top. The pressurized coaches have a plate of pressure, with all the valves and fittings of which valves of safety, and a cylindrical dome of protection at the top. The loading and unloading are done by this opening.

The coaches with thermo isolation (which can also be equipped with systems of D Chauffage or Réfrigération) are used for transport of liquids having to be maintained with a Température given or sufficiently fluids (heavy fuel, bitumens, etc).

The tank of a rail tanker is in general partitioned partially to limit the effects of the movements of the liquid which can compromise the stability of the coach. When it is partitioned completely it allows the transport of various liquids.

History

• As of the beginnings of the railroad, the need for the transport of liquid revealed coaches called tank car : it was about a frame on which were posed one or more cuves.
  Les tanks were either of wood, or metal or even out of bottle of glass protected for transport from acids.
• In 1854, the French industrialist Xavier Gargan invents the first tank car.
• the use of wood for the transport of the wine spreads since 1880: one speaks about tank car . This coach comprises in fact one or two barrels of oak fixed on a flat wagon provided with a cradle of fixing.
• the specialization of the cisterns starts after 1918:
• cisterns for oil products
• cisterns for chemicals
• cisterns specialized by type of food product (wine, oil, milk)
• After the Second world war specialization is even more thorough:
• cisterns for light oil products
• cisterns for heavy oil products
• cisterns for powders (talc for example)
• cisterns for gas

With specialization, the equipment specific to the transported matters and the lawful constraints, the structure of the coach also changed: beyond the traditional cylindrical tank now, one finds profiles multicylindric more adapted for the unloading of heavy fuel or powders. Double tanks can also be used for the products with high toxicity.