US Patent Issued to BNSF Railway on June 16 for "Railroad virtual track block system" (Kansas Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,654,753, issued on June 16, was assigned to BNSF Railway Co. (Fort Worth, Texas).

"Railroad virtual track block system" was invented by Jerry Wade Specht (Overland Park, Kan.), Ralph E. Young (Osawatomie, Kan.), Mitchell Wayne Beard (Shawnee, Kan.) and Kent Robert Shue (Bonner Springs, Kan.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method of railroad track control includes partitioning a physical track block into a plurality of virtual track blocks, the physical track block defined by first and second insulated joints disposed at corresponding first and second ends of a length of railroad track. The presence of an electrical circuit discontinuity...