Bullet trains at a factory of CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co Ltd in Qingdao, Shandong province.

Chinese railway equipment manufacturing company CRRC Tangshan Co. said on Tuesday that it has received its first patent authorization certificate from the European Patent Office (EPO).

The patent was awarded for a device that protects leading train cars from potential impacts. The company also has three patents in the U.S.

CRRC Tangshan Co. filed an application for the patent on Oct. 22, 2012. After four years of examination and consideration, the company won its first EPO patent on Feb. 10, 2016. They received the official certificate one month later.

With the exportation of Chinese high-speed railway technology and the implementation of the One Belt, One Road initiative, intellectual property rights in China are seeing corresponding improvement.

echnicians examine a nearly finished bullet train at the factory.