B61L 1/18
Railway track circuits
Official title: Railway track circuits (rail joints E01B11/00, e.g. insulated rail joints E01B11/54)
B61L1/18 (Railway track circuits) appears on 233 US grants and 180 published applications in this corpus.
Search patents in B61L- Granted patents
- 233
- Published applications
- 180
- Assignees
- 101
- Inventors
- 308
- Latest grant
- 1 Sep 2026
Filings by year
| Year | Granted patents | Published applications |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 9 | 0 |
| 1977 | 4 | 0 |
| 1978 | 4 | 0 |
| 1979 | 1 | 0 |
| 1980 | 0 | 0 |
| 1981 | 4 | 0 |
| 1982 | 5 | 0 |
| 1983 | 6 | 0 |
| 1984 | 4 | 0 |
| 1985 | 4 | 0 |
| 1986 | 5 | 0 |
| 1987 | 3 | 0 |
| 1988 | 1 | 0 |
| 1989 | 3 | 0 |
| 1990 | 1 | 0 |
| 1991 | 2 | 0 |
| 1992 | 2 | 0 |
| 1993 | 3 | 0 |
| 1994 | 4 | 0 |
| 1995 | 3 | 0 |
| 1996 | 2 | 0 |
| 1997 | 0 | 0 |
| 1998 | 2 | 0 |
| 1999 | 1 | 0 |
| 2000 | 0 | 0 |
| 2001 | 3 | 1 |
| 2002 | 2 | 2 |
| 2003 | 2 | 2 |
| 2004 | 1 | 2 |
| 2005 | 1 | 2 |
| 2006 | 4 | 7 |
| 2007 | 6 | 3 |
| 2008 | 1 | 6 |
| 2009 | 2 | 3 |
| 2010 | 3 | 2 |
| 2011 | 2 | 10 |
| 2012 | 4 | 2 |
| 2013 | 5 | 7 |
| 2014 | 7 | 12 |
| 2015 | 8 | 3 |
| 2016 | 8 | 9 |
| 2017 | 7 | 7 |
| 2018 | 4 | 14 |
| 2019 | 10 | 12 |
| 2020 | 10 | 7 |
| 2021 | 12 | 15 |
| 2022 | 13 | 18 |
| 2023 | 11 | 9 |
| 2024 | 12 | 15 |
| 2025 | 14 | 7 |
| 2026 | 8 | 3 |
By publication year. Applications have been published since 2001. 2026 runs to 8 Oct.
Subgroups
Granted patents
Recent patents
- Grade crossing system including grade crossing predictor in electrified propulsion territory1 Sep 2026US 12,722,676 B2Siemens Mobility GmbH
- Rail bond monitor18 Aug 2026US 12,709,313 B2Modular Railway Systems
- System and method for virtual block stick circuits7 Jul 2026US 12,673,707 B2BNSF Railway Company
- Railroad virtual track block system16 Jun 2026US 12,654,753 B2BNSF Railway Company
- Railway detection system, railway infrastructure and method for detecting the presence of a railway vehicle2 Jun 2026US 12,643,583 B2
- Railroad virtual track block system8 Oct 2026US 2026/0307691 A1BNSF Railway Company
- Train simulator test set and method therefor7 May 2026US 2026/0125087 A1BNSF Railway Company
- System and method for virtual block operational status control with long block time delay30 Apr 2026US 2026/0116439 A1BNSF Railway Company
- Broken rail detector17 Jul 2025US 2025/0229814 A1Athena Industrial Technologies Inc.
- System and method for virtual approach signal restriction upgrade3 Jul 2025US 2025/0214633 A1BNSF Railway Company
Most cited
By later US patents
- Microprocessor based track circuit for occupancy detection and bidirectional code communication71US 4,498,650 AGeneral Signal Corporation · 1985
- Vehicle train tracking apparatus and method40US 4,361,301 AWestinghouse Electric Corp. · 1982
- Cab signal track code analyzer system32US 5,358,202 AConsolidated Rail Corporation · 1994
- Pulse code system for railroad track circuits30US 4,619,425 AAmerican Standard Inc. · 1986
- Train detection circuit27US 5,417,388 A1995