PlainPatent

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 filing trajectory.

2,671
US patents granted
B61
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+53%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Guiding Railway Traffic ranks #339 of 670 CPC technology areas - 2,671 US patents granted since 2015, with filing up 53% over five years.

#339
of 670 CPC technology areas
2,671
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Siemens Mobility
leading assignee (194)
+53%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: Siemens Mobility Gmbh (194 patents)

CPC subclass B61L - GUIDING RAILWAY TRAFFIC; ENSURING THE SAFETY OF RAILWAY TRAFFIC - covers 2,671 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 B61L is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. Siemens Mobility Gmbh leads with 194 patents, followed by Transportation IP Holdings, Llc at 112 grants and Alstom Transport Technologies at 85.

Filing activity in B61L is up 53% over the past five years versus 2015-2019, a sharp acceleration suggesting an emerging or fast-moving technology area. All counts come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.

Is B61L innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in B61L, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 53% versus 2015–2019.

150200250300350 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 257

Who leads B61L?

The 12 most active assignees in GUIDING RAILWAY TRAFFIC; ENSURING THE SAFETY OF RAILWAY TRAFFIC - wider bars mean more grants

patents

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.

Source USPTO PatentsView, granted utility patents As of 2015–2025 grant years
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

About This Class

CPC subclass B61L belongs to class B61.

2,671 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 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).

Top 14 B61L assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B61L. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 510152025 050100150200250 Patents in B61L Avg claims / patent (company-wide) Siemens MobilityTransportation Ip Hol…Alstom TransportWestinghouse Air BrakeBnsf RailwayGe Global SourcingElectro-motive DieselThales CanadaAmsted RailProgress Rail ServicesCasco SignalSiemens IndustryBydTetra Tech
Top 14 B61L assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B61L. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class B61L?
CPC subclass B61L covers GUIDING RAILWAY TRAFFIC; ENSURING THE SAFETY OF RAILWAY TRAFFIC. It belongs to CPC class B61 (RAILWAYS), with 2,671 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in B61L?
2,671 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass B61L between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in B61L?
Siemens Mobility Gmbh leads B61L with 194 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for B61L 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 B61L 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.