Metra wrote:Communities also will see fewer trains parked for extended periods of time.
Sorry, but that's wildly optimistic. Both Metra & UP will benefit from the capacity related improvements (i.e., signal upgrades and new crossovers) but it's not going to dictate Proviso's ability to handle all inbound traffic sent there at any given time. The staging areas in Lombard and Wheaton are closest to Proviso, and as such are the first locations used by dispatchers to hold trains out, so there's no reason to expect that to change, even with the new third track running through Geneva.
And in case you haven't guessed, this is being paid for by Metra's share of the stimulus package. Not sure exactly how much they got, but I suspect it was less than they were expecting, unless there's more construction announcements pending for other projects...