  We provide a new perspective on fracton topological phases, a class of
three-dimensional topologically ordered phases with unconventional
fractionalized excitations that are either completely immobile or only mobile
along particular lines or planes. We demonstrate that a wide range of these
fracton phases can be constructed by strongly coupling mutually intersecting
spin chains and explain via a concrete example how such a coupled-spin-chain
construction illuminates the generic properties of a fracton phase. In
particular, we describe a systematic translation from each coupled-spin-chain
construction into a parton construction where the partons correspond to the
excitations that are mobile along lines. Remarkably, our construction of
fracton phases is inherently based on spin models involving only two-spin
interactions and thus brings us closer to their experimental realization.
