PTC Question

[ExCon90]

A question has arisen in another forum as to whether PTC would have prevented the recent Southwest Chief derailment, and it seems clear that it would not have, since the rails were intact, although displaced. As I understand it, PTC on Western roads will be radio-based, with trains reporting their position via lineside radio towers, and I'm now wondering whether that form of PTC would detect a broken rail (had there been one in that instance).

[Train Detainer]

The radios are for communication and positioning information. The tracks are still circuited, so yes, a broken rail would be detected. I have yet to see anything that said a rail was broken in SWC incident, just displaced, so PTC would not have helped.