Chabacano means apricot in Mexican Spanish. When Mexico City was expanding south towards Río de la Piedad (now tubed under the Viaducto Miguel Alemán) 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 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 and is sometimes called the Spanish solution.
The station has several cultural displays and a small public library. There is a couple of mosaic murals on the side of the station belonging to Line 9.
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.
Train arriving to Metro Chabacano
Art exhibition space at Metro Chabacano
Outside view of Metro station Chabacano, Line 2 section above ground on Calzada de Tlalpan