Well, I can’t speak to the section of track north of Philadelphia, but the section of “high-speed” track north of NYC has STILL not been upgraded with cement ties!
This is important because cement ties — unlike wooden ties — do not permit their “spikes” to get loose and wobbly, and therefore keep the steel rails “in place”.
Strangely enough, the low-speed tracks that bring commuters home did have their wooden ties replaced with cement ties.
“Beautification” of the commuter stations seems to have plenty of money.
A lot more kickbacks there as well.
Go to youtube and search track laying machine for an awesome display of a automated mobile production process.