A $3.3 million modernization of the northbound side was approved on April 2, 1986, with a groundbreaking held on May 30. The project added an elevator to the northbound platform and a new entrance north of Essex Street; the Essex Street headhouse was closed. An extension of the northbound platform was completed shortly before six-car train service began on August 18, 1987. The renovation added a new artwork to the station: "Colors on the Line", by Toshihiro Katayama, consists of 44 colorful enameled steel panels along the wall of the northbound track. Katayama wrote that ""I instantly heard the voice of this station telling me...to relieve the darkness with a range of bright colors." On May 4, 1987, the station was renamed Chinatown concurrent with the opening of the Southwest Corridor; the change (likely an effort to rebrand the declining Combat Zone) had been approved in 1985 as part of a series of station name changes.