CPC technology class · B61

B61L - Guiding Railway Traffic

Guiding railway traffic; ensuring the safety of railway traffic. 2,671 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

2,671
US patents granted: #1/9
in B61: 32.9%
B61 class share: +28%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Guiding Railway Traffic ranks #339 of 670 CPC technology areas - 2,671 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 28% over five years.

#339
of 670 CPC technology areas: 2,671
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Siemens Mobility
leading assignee (194): +28%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B61L's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B61L recorded 1,318 grants versus 1,031 in 2015–2019 (+28% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2024 at 336 grants and bottomed in 2016 at 174 (+93% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Siemens Mobility GmbH holds 7.3% of the class ; the top three share 14.6%.

Leaderboard read

B61L concentration, lead at 7.3%

Siemens Mobility GmbH leads this historical grant record at 7.3% of B61L - us corporation assignees hold 54% of class grants (858 of 1,603). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 7.3%
Top three share: 14.6%
Lead over #2: 82

Where B61L sits inside B61

Among 9 subclasses in B61 (Railways), B61L ranks #1 and holds 32.9% 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.

B61D 1,451 B61B 961 B61C 870 B61F 797 B61K 506 B61H 502 B61G 314 B61J 51

Rising assignees active in B61L

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 Casco Signal Ltd. 16x 0 → 16 company-wide · 26 in B61L
#2 Parallel Systems, Inc. 13x 0 → 13 company-wide · 19 in B61L
#3 Plasser & Theurer Export von Bahnbaumaschinen GmbH 11x 2 → 21 company-wide · 5 in B61L
#4 Alstom Holdings 10x 0 → 10 company-wide · 6 in B61L
#5 C.D.L. Electric Company, Inc. 9.00x 0 → 9 company-wide · 10 in B61L

B61L grants by year, peak 2024 (336)

US utility-patent grants per year in B61L, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 28% versus 2015–2019.

Siemens Mobility

194
Transportation Ip…

112
Alstom Transport

85
Westinghouse Air Brake

84
Bnsf Railway

82
Ge Global Sourcing

44
Electro-motive Diesel

37
Thales Canada

36
Amsted Rail

28
Progress Rail Services

28
Casco Signal

26
Siemens Industry

25

What this shows Siemens Mobility is the most active filer in B61L, holding 194 of the 2,671 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 B61L
Rank	Company	Patents in B61L
#1	Siemens Mobility GmbH	194
#2	Transportation IP Holdings, LLC	112
#3	Alstom Transport Technologies	85
#4	Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation	84
#5	Bnsf Railway Company	82
#6	GE Global Sourcing LLC	44
#7	Electro-Motive Diesel, Inc.	37
#8	Thales Canada Inc.	36
#9	Amsted Rail Company, Inc.	28
#10	Progress Rail Services Corporation	28
#11	Casco Signal Ltd.	26
#12	Siemens Industry, Inc.	25
#13	BYD Company Limited	21
#14	Tetra Tech, Inc.	21
#15	Harsco Technologies LLC	20
#16	Cattron North America, Inc.	20
#17	New York Air Brake LLC	19
#18	Progress Rail Locomotive Inc.	19
#19	Parallel Systems, Inc.	19
#20	Universal City Studios LLC	18

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B61L 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 B61L assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B61L. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near B61L's 2,671-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for B61L (#339 of 670 by volume ; lead share 7.3%) - not the B61 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

A62B 2,672 F26B 2,656 H02B 2,655 F27D 2,695

Nearest by lead-assignee share

C10J 7.3% B22C 7.2% H02G 7.2% F01M 7.2%

Questions about B61L

Which company holds the most patents in B61L?

Siemens Mobility GmbH leads B61L with 194 patents (7.3% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, us corporations account for 54% of class grants.

Which B61L assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B61L, Casco Signal Ltd. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (16x: 0 grants in 2019–2021 → 16 in 2022–2024) while holding 26 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does B61L compare inside parent class B61?

Inside B61 (Railways), B61L ranks #1 of 9 subclasses by grant volume and holds 32.9% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B61D (1,451 grants).

What to do with this data

B61L in context - here's where to go next.

Siemens Mobility GmbH leads B61L with 194 grants in this class. See full portfolio
B61L ranks #339 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class B61, the largest sibling subclass is B61D with 1,451 grants. Explore B61D

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

Methodology - B61L figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (2,671 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.