CPC technology class · B61

B61D - Body Details Or Kinds Of Railway Vehicles

Body details or kinds of railway vehicles. 1,451 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

1,451
US patents granted: #2/9
in B61: 17.9%
B61 class share: +21%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Body Details Or Kinds Of Railway Vehicles ranks #409 of 670 CPC technology areas - 1,451 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 21% over five years.

#409
of 670 CPC technology areas: 1,451
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Kawasaki Jukogyo
leading assignee (57): +21%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B61D's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B61D recorded 722 grants versus 599 in 2015–2019 (+21% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2020 at 173 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 85 (+104% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Siemens Mobility GmbH holds 3.2% of the class ; the top three share 9.0%.

Leaderboard read

B61D concentration, lead at 3.2%

Siemens Mobility GmbH leads this historical grant record at 3.2% of B61D - foreign corporation assignees hold 58% of class grants (463 of 801). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 3.2%
Top three share: 9.0%
Lead over #2: 0

Where B61D sits inside B61

Among 9 subclasses in B61 (Railways), B61D ranks #2 and holds 17.9% of the parent class's 8,123 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

B61L 2,671 B61B 961 B61C 870 B61F 797 B61K 506 B61H 502 B61G 314 B61J 51

Rising assignees active in B61D

Company-wide grant multiples (2022–2024 vs 2019–2021) among assignees with ≥5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide; class patent counts are subclass-specific.

#1 Berkshire Grey Operating Company, Inc. 124x 0 → 124 company-wide · 11 in B61D
#2 Parallel Systems, Inc. 13x 0 → 13 company-wide · 6 in B61D
#3 CG RAIL—CHINESISCH-DEUTSCHES Forschungs- UND Entwicklungszentrum FÜR Bahn- UND Verkehrstechnik Dresden GMBH 7.00x 0 → 7 company-wide · 5 in B61D
#4 Herzog Railroad Services, Inc. 5.00x 1 → 5 company-wide · 9 in B61D
#5 Crrc Tangshan Co., Ltd. 2.33x 6 → 14 company-wide · 6 in B61D

B61D grants by year, peak 2020 (173)

US utility-patent grants per year in B61D, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 21% versus 2015–2019.

Siemens Mobility

46
Alstom Transport

46
Trinity Rail Group

38
Crrc Qingdao Sifang

33
National Steel Car

30
Gunderson

28
Bombardier Transportat…

25
Trinity North…

23
Nabtesco

22
Jac Operations

17
Standard Car Truck

15
Koito Electric…

13

What this shows Kawasaki Jukogyo is the most active filer in B61D, holding 57 of the 1,451 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

View data table

Top patent holders in CPC subclass B61D
Rank	Company	Patents in B61D
#1	Siemens Mobility GmbH	46
#2	Alstom Transport Technologies	46
#3	Trinity Rail Group, LLC	38
#4	Crrc Qingdao Sifang Co., Ltd.	33
#5	National Steel Car Limited	30
#6	Gunderson LLC	28
#7	Bombardier Transportation GmbH	25
#8	Trinity North American Freight CAR, Inc.	23
#9	Nabtesco Corporation	22
#10	JAC Operations, Inc.	17
#11	Standard CAR Truck Company	15
#12	Koito Electric Industries, Ltd	13
#13	Nippon Sharyo, Ltd.	12
#14	Berkshire Grey Operating Company, Inc.	11
#15	SpeedInnov	11
#16	Union Tank Car Company	11
#17	Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation	10
#18	Safran Seats USA LLC	10
#19	HÜBNER GmbH & Co. KG	10
#20	Siemens Mobility Austria GmbH	10

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B61D 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 B61D assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B61D. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near B61D's 1,451-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for B61D (#409 of 670 by volume ; lead share 3.9%) - not the B61 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

C07J 1,454 D02G 1,439 F17D 1,470 B07B 1,431

Nearest by lead-assignee share

B60P 3.9% F21K 3.9% A63C 3.9% B66C 3.9%

Questions about B61D

Which company holds the most patents in B61D?

Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha leads B61D with 57 patents (3.2% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 58% of class grants.

Which B61D assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B61D, Berkshire Grey Operating Company, Inc. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (124x: 0 grants in 2019–2021 → 124 in 2022–2024) while holding 11 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does B61D compare inside parent class B61?

Inside B61 (Railways), B61D ranks #2 of 9 subclasses by grant volume and holds 17.9% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B61L (2,671 grants).

What to do with this data

B61D in context - here's where to go next.

Siemens Mobility GmbH leads B61D with 46 grants in this class. See full portfolio
B61D ranks #409 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class B61, the largest sibling subclass is B61L with 2,671 grants. Explore B61L

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through 2026-05-15; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Methodology - B61D figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (1,451 grants in the tracked window).

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.