PlainPatent

CPC technology class · B61

B61C - Locomotives

Locomotives; motor railcars. 870 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.

870
US patents granted
B61
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+18%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Locomotives ranks #477 of 670 CPC technology areas - 870 US patents granted since 2015, with filing up 18% over five years.

#477
of 670 CPC technology areas
870
US patents granted, 2015–2025
General Electric
leading assignee (79)
+18%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: General Electric Company (79 patents)

CPC subclass B61C - LOCOMOTIVES; MOTOR RAILCARS - covers 870 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records, within the broader CPC class B61 (RAILWAYS). See our CPC classification guide for how the system works.

The competitive landscape in B61C is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. General Electric Company leads with 79 patents, followed by Siemens Mobility Gmbh at 49 grants and Electro-motive Diesel, Inc. at 45.

Filing activity in B61C is up 18% over the past five years versus 2015-2019, a relatively steady filing pace. All counts come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.

Is B61C innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in B61C, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 18% versus 2015–2019.

406080100 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 48

Who leads B61C?

The 12 most active assignees in LOCOMOTIVES; MOTOR RAILCARS - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows General Electric is the most active filer in B61C, holding 79 of the 870 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

Source USPTO PatentsView, granted utility patents As of 2015–2025 grant years
View data table
Top patent holders in CPC subclass B61C
Rank Company Patents in B61C
#1 Transportation IP Holdings, Llc 70
#2 Siemens Mobility Gmbh 49
#3 Electro-motive Diesel, Inc. 45
#4 Alstom Transport Technologies 25
#5 Bombardier Transportation Gmbh 23
#6 GE Global Sourcing Llc 17
#7 Progress Rail Locomotive Inc. 15
#8 Hyperloop Technologies, Inc. 15
#9 CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co., Ltd. 12
#10 Progress Rail Services Corporation 11
#11 OPEX Corporation 10
#12 SST Systems, Inc 8
#13 BNSF Railway Company 7
#14 Knorr-bremse Systeme Für Schienenfahrzeuge Gmbh 7
#15 Bright Energy Storage Technologies, LLP 7
#16 Speedinnov 7
#17 New York Air Brake Llc 6
#18 Cattron North America, Inc. 6
#19 Siemens Mobility Austria Gmbh 6
#20 Parallel Systems, Inc. 6

About This Class

CPC subclass B61C belongs to class B61.

870 patents were granted in this class between 2015 and 2025.

20 companies actively patent in this space.

Classification System

Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) is a hierarchical patent classification system used by the USPTO and EPO.

← All Technology Classes Technology Rankings →

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B61C assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 B61C assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B61C. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Top 14 B61C assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B61C. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 101214161820 020406080 Patents in B61C Avg claims / patent (company-wide) Transportation Ip Hol…Siemens MobilityElectro-motive DieselAlstom TransportBombardier Transporta…Ge Global SourcingProgress Rail Locomot…HyperloopCrrc Qingdao SifangProgress Rail ServicesOpexSst SystemsBnsf RailwayKnorr-bremse Systeme…
Top 14 B61C assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B61C. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class B61C?
CPC subclass B61C covers LOCOMOTIVES; MOTOR RAILCARS. It belongs to CPC class B61 (RAILWAYS), with 870 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in B61C?
870 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass B61C between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in B61C?
General Electric Company leads B61C with 79 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for B61C collected?
Patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It covers all US granted utility patents and assigns CPC codes based on the technology described in each patent.
What is the difference between CPC class and subclass?
A CPC class (e.g., B61) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like B61C provide finer granularity within that category. PlainPatent organizes data at the subclass level (4-character codes) for the most useful view of technology domains.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent Editorial

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.