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Track layout
	Legend

Cermak–Chinatown

2200S
200W
Cermak–Chinatown 2200S; 200W
Chicago 'L' rapid transit station
	Station platform, looking north towards Federal Junction and the Orange Line tracks
General information
Location	138 West Cermak Road; Chicago, Illinois 60616
Coordinates	41°51′12″N 87°37′51″W / 41.853206°N 87.630968°W
Owned by	Chicago Transit Authority
Line(s)	Dan Ryan Branch
Platforms	1 Island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	CTA bus
Construction
Structure type	Elevated
Parking	Yes
Bicycle facilities	Yes (south entrance only)
Accessible	Yes
History
Opened	September 28, 1969
Rebuilt	2009–11 (renovation); 2013 (refurbished)
Previous names	Cermak (station sign)
Passengers
2022	874,515 34.3%
Services
Former services
Track layout
Track layout
	Legend
Location
Location

Cermak-Chinatown is an 'L' station on the CTA's Red Line. The station is located in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood and contains many elements of Chinese culture in its architecture.

The station has two tile murals with "Welcome to Chinatown" also written in Chinese. Passengers using the stairs or escalator are welcomed by a couple of lion statues, called "foo dogs," meant to protect against evil spirits at the entrance. The bins on the platform are painted in red and green, the Chinese color for prosperity and longevity, with Welcome written in Chinese on the next one.

Like the other eight stations of the Dan Ryan Branch, Cermak–Chinatown was built by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, looking identical to 95th/Dan Ryan. Customers outside the station can also see Chinese character masks of Chinese opera and theater productions on the walls. Cermak–Chinatown is open 24/7 as part of the service on the Red Line. In 2014, an annual total of 1,567,588 passengers boarded this station.^[2]

History

Truck collision

On April 25, 2008, a semi truck crashed into the station, killing two and injuring 21, at least seven critically.^[3] Part of the station collapsed after the impact.^[4] Bystanders said that the driver of the truck was coming off the northbound Dan Ryan Expressway exit.^[3] The truck driver was taken into custody and died later in the year.^[5]

Renovation

The original station (designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill) had undergone updates since its opening in 1969. After the truck collision, however, CTA officials planned to fully rebuild the station house, with construction beginning in fall 2009. On June 4, 2010, a new auxiliary entrance/exit opened at Archer Avenue, to provide convenient access to 62 Archer buses as well as to Chinatown Square and the Richland Center.^[6] On April 15, 2011, the main entrance on the north side of Cermak Road reopened and was upgraded with an elevator making it accessible to people with disabilities. The auxiliary entrance on the south side of Cermak Road reopened on April 30, 2011.^[7]^[8]

Cermak-Chinatown, like all Dan Ryan Branch Red Line stations, closed from May 19, 2013 to October 20, 2013 for the Red Line South Reconstruction Project.^[9] A free shuttle bus carried passengers from Cermak-Chinatown to Roosevelt to allow connections to the rerouted Red Line trains on the South Side Elevated.