...on the NERAIL photo archive site, Steve Hurley has a couple of photos of MOW equipment in the Bay Colony siding at Midfield Jct on the Framingham Secondary...are they, the infamous 'they', going to continue the track upgrade toward Walpole?
Yes. Tons of rail and ties have been dropped along the Secondary from Framingham all points south ever since last Fall, so they're quietly but steadily chipping away at the state-of-repair backlog. As well as re-doing crossing surfaces and installing full-gated crossing protection on most of the formerly flashers-only crossings. The work was obligated as an I.O.U. when CSX sold the line to the state. The line certainly looks worlds cleaner than it used to; CSX were chronic deadbeats on brush-cutting, and everything is now freshly-manicured.
I don't know who MassDOT is contracting out to do the work. Iowa Pacific? It's not in-house via borrowed MBTA crews, and CSX doesn't have much direct participation.