# Chabacano metro station

Chabacano metro station is a Mexico City Metro transfer station in Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City. It is a combined underground and at-grade station with two side platforms and one island platform, featuring the Spanish solution layout. It serves Lines 2 (the Blue Line), 8 (the Green Line) and 9 (the Brown Line).
Chabacano metro station is located between San Antonio Abad and Viaducto stations on Line 2, between Obrera and La Viga stations on Line 8, and between Lázaro Cárdenas and Jamaica stations on Line 9. It services the colonias (neighborhoods) of Ampliación Asturias, Obrera, and Vista Alegre. The station's pictogram features an apricot and is named after a nearby street that once had several apricot trees.
Chabacano metro station opened on 1 August 1970, initially providing northbound service on Line 2 toward Pino Suárez metro station and southward service toward Tasqueña station. Southeasterly service on Line 8 toward Constitución de 1917 station and northward toward Garibaldi station began on 20 July 1994. Southeastern service on Line 8 began on 20 July 1994, with trains running toward Constitución de 1917 station and northbound toward Garibaldi station. Line 9 service, running west to east from Centro Médico to Pantitlán, commenced on August 26, 1987. The Line 2 platforms had to be rebuilt when the transfer stations were constructed.
The station facilities are accessible to people with disabilities as there are elevators, escalators and wheelchair ramps. Outside, multiple local bus routes service the area. Inside is an Internet café, an information desk, a cultural showcase, a private library, and a mural titled Civilización y Cultura by José de Guimarães. The station served as a film location for the 1990 film Total Recall, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Javier Álvarez named a composition after the station. In 2019, the station recorded an average of 43,617 daily entries.

## Location and layout

Chabacano is a metro transfer station in the Cuauhtémoc borough, in central Mexico City. It is situated along the Calzada de Tlalpan (Line 2), below Calle Juan A. Mateos (Line 8) and below Eje 3 Sur – Calzada Chabacano (Line 9). The station serves three colonias (neighborhoods), Ampliación Asturias, Obrera, and Vista Alegre. The station was named after the avenue of the same name, which once had several apricot trees. Its pictogram features the silhouette of an apricot. Chabacano means apricot in Mexican Spanish; in other regions, it means "tacky" or "vulgar".
Chabacano metro station serves as an interchange for three lines. It is followed by San Antonio Abad and Viaducto stations on Line 2, Obrera and La Viga stations on Line 8, and Lázaro Cárdenas and Jamaica stations on Line 9.
Several bus routes service the Chabacano metro station. The Red de Transporte de Pasajeros (RTP) bus system includes Routes 2-A, 31-B, 33, 111-A, and 145-A, while the public bus system includes Routes 9-C, 9-E, 14-A, 17-C, 17-H, and 17-I.
Chabacano metro station has multiple exits serving its various lines. For Line 2, there are two exits: the eastern one is situated between Calle Juan A. Mateo, Calzada Chabacano and Avenida San Antonio Abad in Colonia Vista Alegre, while the western exit is positioned between Calle Manuel Caballero, Calle Antonio Solís and Avenida San Antonio Abad in Colonia Obrera.
Line 8 has three exits: northern, southeastern, and southwestern. These are located at the respective corners of Calle Juan A. Mateos and Calle Vicente Beristain in Colonia Vista Alegre. Lastly, Line 9 offers four exits. The northeastern and southeastern exits are at the respective corners of Calzada Chabacano and Calle J. Antonio Torres X in Colonia Vista Alegre. The northwestern and southwestern exits are situated in the respective corners of Calzada Chabacano and Calle Francisco Ayala in Colonia Ampliación Asturias.

## History and construction

Unlike the system's other transfer stations, which are linked by underground tunnels, the transfer passageway for Lines 2 and 9 is elevated due to the lack of space for a tunnel between the two stations. The bridge crosses several houses and streets and is 200 meters (660 ft) long. Commuters using Line 8 must navigate two additional sets of stairs that connect to a tunnel running between Calle Francisco Ayala and Calle Vicente Beristain.

### Line 2

The line was built by Ingeniería de Sistemas de Transportes Metropolitano, Electrometro and Cometro, the latter being a subsidiary of Empresas ICA. Chabacano station opened on 1 August 1970, on the inaugural day of the Pino Suárez–Tasqueña service. The station was built at grade level with a design similar to other stations in the at-grade section, including an island platform. The section between Chabacano and San Antonio Abad spans 642 meters (2,106 ft) in length, while the section between Chabacano and Viaducto measures 774 meters (2,539 ft).
When the construction of Lines 8 and 9 began, the decision was made to rebuild the station to improve passenger boarding and alighting. The Spanish solution was implemented across all platforms, where incoming passengers disembark from the central platform, while those waiting to board from the side platform are on the opposite side of the train. The station offers a disabled-accessible service four elevators.

### Line 8

ICA built the line and its first and only section opened on 20 July 1994, operating from Garibaldi to Constitución de 1917 stations. Chabacano is an underground station, with the Chabacano–Obrera tunnel extending 1,143 meters (3,750 ft) and the Chabacano–La Viga section spanning 843 meters (2,766 ft).

### Line 9

Cometro built the line, and its first section, where Chabacano is located, was opened on 26 August 1987, operating from Centro Médico towards Pantitlán station. Chabacano is an underground station. The tunnel connecting it to Lázaro Cárdenas measures 1,000 meters (3,300 ft), while the tunnel in the opposite direction towards Jamaica is 1,031 meters (3,383 ft) long.
The station provides accessible services with wheelchair ramps, two elevators, and escalators. These facilities were renovated in 2021 to address obsolescence.

### Incidents

On 28 December 2010, an elderly passenger who was trying to help two people who had dropped their belongings onto the tracks fell onto the tracks himself and was subsequently struck and killed by an approaching train on Line 2. On 4 June 2018, a law student was arrested for attempting to use the Benito Juárez library located inside the station. The station manager denied him access, stating that the library was reserved for metro system personnel. The public prosecutor's office did not pursue charges as prosecutors deemed it unjustified to prohibit library access under the City Libraries Code, as the facility is in a public space. Metro system authorities later clarified that the library is open to the general public upon registration.
The station was vandalized on 12 September 2020 by feminists protesting reported cases of harassment and restrictions on street vendors within the metro system for reported cases of harassment. After the collapse of a bridge on Line 12, which resulted in 26 deaths, feminists vandalized the station again and assaulted metro staff, whom they held accountable for the incident. On 1 April 2022, a woman slipped on an escalator, causing a chain reaction that knocked down seven other people, all of whom sustained minor injuries.

## Landmarks, cultural events and popular culture

The station includes an Internet café, an information desk, a cultural showcase, a private library, and a mural titled Civilización y Cultura (English: "Culture and Civilization") by Portuguese artist José de Guimarães. Created on a 120 square meters (1,300 sq ft) ceramic surface, the mural is divided into two parts and located on Line 9. Inaugurated on 6 November 1996, it features elements from the pre-Hispanic cultures of Mesoamerica. According to de Guimarães, "two fundamental archetypes have prevailed throughout the centuries [in pre-Hispanic culture in Mexico]: the serpent as a symbol of water-life and the jaguar as a symbol of earth-fertility. Without these two important elements for man, history would not take place".
Due to its size, Chabacano metro station hosts cultural programs in its lobby. Trans-X, Ji-Hae Park or the Orquesta Sinfónica de Yucatán. Scenes from the 1990 film Total Recall were filmed at the station at night. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and set in the year 2084, the film depicts a future where humanity has colonized Mars. In one scene on Earth, Douglas Quaid, a secret agent with erased memories, escapes from attackers by entering a subway station and leaping through the window of an outbound train. During filming, Schwarzenegger accidentally cut his wrist because the film crew did not explode the window on time. To transform the station for the scene, the film crew painted the walls and a train in cement gray, covered the signage, and added monitors throughout the station.
By 2020, the station and its surrounding area had become a popular spot for buying and selling used and vintage clothing, especially on weekends.

### "Metro Chabacano" by Javier Álvarez

Mexican composer Javier Álvarez named one of his compositions after the metro station. Álvarez created "Canción de tierra y esperanza" (English: "Song of Earth and Hope") and dedicated it to his parents for Christmas 1986. In 1990, when Mexican artist Marco Límenes was allowed to exhibit his kinetic sculptures at the station, he requested Álvarez's composition for the event. Instead of using the original piece, Álvarez recomposed and renamed it "Metro Chabacano". He asked the Cuarteto Latinoamericano to perform and record the new version. The composition, a string quartet with an average tempo of 144 to 146 beats per minute, was played live by the quartet at the exhibition's inauguration in September 1991. Álvarez later adapted it for string orchestra.
Álvarez said that it has "a continuous eight-note movement of moderately driving speed from which short melodic solos emerge for each instrument [...] although the piece is brief and in single movement, the rhythms, accents and melodic fragments that emerge from the perpetual motion background are intricately playful". Jacques Sagot wrote for La Nación that the composition converges with the pace of the station, at first with an "uninterrupted flow of repeated notes" and then with "whistles of the violin [evoking] the braking of the machine, the squeaking of the rubber [with] the arrival of the metro train". William Yeoman wrote for Gramophone that it is a "one-movement moto perpetuum" that "makes an ideal end to an enjoyable disc that offers some respite from the heavy stuff without sacrificing artistry."

## Ridership

According to the data provided by the authorities, accesses on Line 2 are more frequent than on Lines 8 and 9, which are among the least used in the system. Overall, and before the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public transport, the station's ridership totaled 15,920,404 passengers (4,358 average entrances per day) in 2019, which was an increase of 496,341 passengers compared to 2018.
In 2019, for Line 2, ridership reached 10,452,786 passengers, averaging 28,637 per day, representing an increase of 378,369 passengers compared to 2018. Line 8 saw a ridership of 1,554,977 passengers, with an average of 4,260 per day, but experienced a decrease of 16,068 passengers compared to the previous year. For Line 9, ridership totaled 3,912,641 passengers, averaging 10,719 per day, marking a decline of 101,904 passengers compared to 2018. System officials estimated that 83,000 users transited on average through the station daily in 2021.
In 2019, when considered individually, the Line 2 station was the 47th busiest out of 195 stations in the system and the ninth busiest on the line. The Line 8 station was the 191st busiest in the system and was the least used on its line. The Line 9 station was the 150th busiest in the system and ranked as the third-least used station on its line.
Annual passenger ridership (Line 2) :
| Year | Ridership | Average daily | Rank | % change |
| 2023 | 8,005,603 | 21,933 | 43/195 | +9.53% |
| 2022 | 8,005,603 | 20,024 | 43/195 | +62.52% |
| 2021 | 4,497,267 | 12,321 | 61/195 | −32.96% |
| 2020 | 6,707,998 | 18,327 | 34/195 | −35.83% |
| 2019 | 10,452,786 | 28,637 | 47/195 | −3.49% |
| 2018 | 10,831,155 | 29,674 | 45/195 | +5.52% |
| 2017 | 10,264,980 | 28,123 | 47/195 | −0.07% |
| 2016 | 10,272,203 | 28,066 | 49/195 | +0.34% |
| 2015 | 10,236,980 | 28,046 | 50/195 | +3.69% |
| 2014 | 9,872,380 | 27,047 | 52/195 | +2.73% |
| Historical annual passenger ridership ||||||
| 2009 | 8,106,948 | 22,210 | 61/175 | — |
Annual passenger ridership (Line 8) :
| Year | Ridership | Average daily | Rank | % change |
| 2023 | 1,479,067 | 4,052 | 170/195 | +26.33% |
| 2022 | 1,170,770 | 3,207 | 171/195 | +18.48% |
| 2021 | 988,177 | 2,707 | 177/195 | +11.73% |
| 2020 | 884,432 | 2,416 | 189/195 | −43.12% |
| 2019 | 1,554,977 | 4,260 | 191/195 | −1.02% |
| 2018 | 1,571,045 | 4,304 | 191/195 | +10.33% |
| 2017 | 1,424,001 | 3,901 | 191/195 | +2.15% |
| 2016 | 1,394,042 | 3,808 | 191/195 | +0.44% |
| 2015 | 1,387,923 | 3,802 | 183/195 | −0.51% |
| 2014 | 1,395,094 | 3,822 | 183/195 | +1.04% |
| Historical annual passenger ridership ||||||
| 2009 | 1,293,103 | 3,542 | 172/175 | — |
Annual passenger ridership (Line 9) :
| Year | Ridership | Average daily | Rank | % change |
| 2023 | 3,073,903 | 8,421 | 132/195 | −0.58% |
| 2022 | 3,091,961 | 8,471 | 128/195 | +9.90% |
| 2021 | 2,813,390 | 7,707 | 117/195 | +32.75% |
| 2020 | 2,119,283 | 5,790 | 150/195 | −45.83% |
| 2019 | 3,912,641 | 10,719 | 150/195 | −2.54% |
| 2018 | 4,014,545 | 10,998 | 146/195 | +0.42% |
| 2017 | 3,997,946 | 10,953 | 143/195 | −0.01% |
| 2016 | 3,998,201 | 10,924 | 144/195 | +0.59% |
| 2015 | 3,974,566 | 10,889 | 131/195 | +6.61% |
| 2014 | 3,728,213 | 10,214 | 137/195 | +20.67% |
| Historical annual passenger ridership ||||||
| 2009 | 4,107,805 | 11,254 | 120/175 | — |