Metro Chabacano
Encyclopedia
Metro station
A metro station or subway station is a railway station for a rapid transit system, often known by names such as "metro", "underground" and "subway". It is often underground or elevated. At crossings of metro lines, they are multi-level....
on Lines 2, 8 and 9 of the Mexico City Metro
Mexico City Metro
The Mexico City Metro , officially called Sistema de Transporte Colectivo, is a metro system that serves the metropolitan area of Mexico City...
system. It is located in the Cuauhtémoc
Cuauhtémoc, D.F.
Cuauhtémoc, named after the former Aztec leader, is one of the 16 boroughs of the Federal district of Mexico City. It consists of the oldest parts of the city, extending over what was the entire city in the 1920s. This area is the historic and culture center of the city, although it is not the...
borough of Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, south of the city centre, on Calzada de Tlalpan.
Chabacano means apricot
Apricot
The apricot, Prunus armeniaca, is a species of Prunus, classified with the plum in the subgenus Prunus. The native range is somewhat uncertain due to its extensive prehistoric cultivation.- Description :...
in Mexican Spanish. When Mexico City was expanding south towards Río de la Piedad (now tubed under the Viaducto Miguel Alemán
Viaducto Miguel Alemán
Viaducto Miguel Alemán is a crosscutting freeway, opened in September 1950, that runs east-west across the middle of Mexico City. In the center of the road is a river encased in cement to control flooding...
) city planners decided to name an avenue after the fruit that grew prodigiously next to the shore of the river. The same name was later on applied to the metro station
Metro station
A metro station or subway station is a railway station for a rapid transit system, often known by names such as "metro", "underground" and "subway". It is often underground or elevated. At crossings of metro lines, they are multi-level....
that was built under the bridge made by Chabacano Avenue when it crosses above the Calzada de Tlalpan.
Metro Chabacano was the first station on the Mexico City Metro to make use of a third, central platform for descending while the other two on the sides are used for ascending. This system was first used in the Barcelona Metro
Barcelona Metro
The Barcelona Metro , part of the public transportation system of Barcelona, Catalonia, is an extensive network of electrified railways that run underground in central Barcelona and above ground into the city's suburbs. Since July 31, 2010, Barcelona Metro system consists of 11 lines with 165...
and is sometimes called the Spanish solution
Spanish solution
The Spanish solution is a method of using two railway platforms, one on each side of the track, in order to speed up boarding and alighting from trains. Alighting passengers get off the train on one side and boarding passengers get on from the other...
.
The station has several cultural displays and a small public library. There is a couple of mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
murals on the side of the station belonging to Line 9.
Scenes for the 1990 motion picture Total Recall
Total Recall
Total Recall is a 1990 American science fiction action film. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Ronny Cox & Mel Johnson, Jr.. It is based on the Philip K. Dick story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale”...
were filmed in the corridors of Metro Chabacano; a fake blood spot still remains in a roof.
On 28 December 2010 the station was the scene of a deadly accident when an elderly passenger tried to help two others who had dropped items onto the tracks fell onto the tracks himself and was killed by an approaching train on line 2.