Coimbatore to Thrissur in 10 Minutes? No, Viral Claim Is Misleading

We found that the journey from Coimbatore to Thrissur via the Kuthiran tunnel takes more than 2 hours to complete.

Fact-Check | The video is of the Kuthiran tunnel is old and is being shared with a misleading claim about travel time on the internet.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video of a person crossing a tunnel on a motorcycle is going viral on the internet with a claim insinuating that the two-hour long journey from Coimbatore to Thrissur can now be completed in 10 minutes due to the tunnel.

An archive of the post can be seen here. 

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

The video has gained over a million views on Twitter and is being widely shared on the platform.

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here, here, and here.)

What is the truth?: The claim is misleading. The tunnel seen in the picture is the Kuthiran tunnel in Kerala, which is around 1.6 kilometres long.

• While the tunnel has helped in reducing traffic on Kuthiran hill, it does not shorten the journey from Coimbatore to Thrissur to 10 minutes.

• According to Google Maps, the distance between both places is around 113 kilometres via the tunnel which takes about 2 hours and 20 minutes to complete, depending on traffic conditions.

How did we find out?: The Quint had previously debunked the same video which went viral as visuals of Mumbai-Goa highway. In our fact-check, we found that the video showed Kuthiran tunnel in Kerala.

• We performed a keyword search to find more details about the tunnel and came across a tweet posted on the official Twitter handle of Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India, Nitin Gadkari.

• According to his tweet, one side of the tunnel was opened on 31 July 2021. He added that it was about 1.6 kilometre-long.

• On checking Google Maps, we found the distance between Coimbatore and Thrissur via the tunnel is about 113 kilometres.

• The estimated time to complete this journey was shown as 2 hours 24 minutes. It should be noted that the actual time may differ depending on the traffic conditions.

The estimated travel time to complete the journey was more than 2 hours.

(Source: Google Maps/Screenshot)

• It is clear that the 1.6 kilometre-long tunnel will not reduce the time taken to cover a distance of about 113 km to 10 minutes.

• Mathematically, a vehicle would have to travel at a speed of approximately 678 kilometres per hour on the road to cover this distance in 10 minutes.

A genuine confusion?: According to a report published by Onmanorama on 31 July 2021, the commuters used to be stuck on the Kuthiran hill for hours. However, the opening of one side of the Kuthiran tunnel has helped commuters to cover the distance within a minute.

• It should be noted that tunnel reduces the time to cover a part of the journey.

• However, this might have misled people into believing that the entire journey can be completed in 10 minutes, which is not true.

• The second tunnel was opened on 21 January 2022.

Conclusion: The claim stating that the tunnel reduces the time taken to complete the journey from Coimbatore to Thrissur to 10 minutes is misleading.

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