No, the travel time between Thrissur and Coimbatore hasn't reduced by 110 minutes

Context

A video showing vehicles passing through a tunnel has gone viral on various social media platforms with a claim that travel time between Coimbatore (a city in the Southern state of Tamil Nadu) and Thrissur (a city in the Southern state of Kerala) has been reduced to just 10 minutes because of the Kuthiran Tunnel. 

A tweet, shared along with the video, states, “Coimbatore to Trichur Tunnel Opened. 2-hour journey is now 10 minutes. Thanks to the Govt of INDIA infrastructure development. NO MEDIA HOUSE TALKS about such news (sic)." The post had garnered over a million views at the time of writing this story. 

However, this claim is false. The travel time hasn't been reduced by 110 minutes (one hour 50 minutes). Further, the Kuthiran twin Tunnel was made operational in July 2021 and the second one was opened in January 2022. This same video had gone viral back then with a similar claim. 

In Fact

The Kuthiran twin Tunnel was constructed between Palakkad and Thrissur in Kerala. The 1.6 km tunnel is designed through the Peechi-Vazahani wildlife sanctuary. Prior to the tunnel's construction, vehicles had to go through Kuthiran Hill, which was infamous for being a significant accident site and causing problems for commuters. The Kuthiran Tunnel was opened with the aim of reducing traffic block and accidents along the stretch. 

According to Google Maps, the distance between Coimbatore to Thrissur is 114 km and the time taken to travel this distance is nearly two hours 30 minutes (without traffic) using the tunnel, which stretches for only 1.6 km. Therefore, a two-hour journey cannot be completed in just ten minutes by passing via a tunnel. However, the newly constructed tunnel has reduced the time it took to cross Kuthiran Hill to under two minutes. 

Moreover, this tunnel does not connect the two cities; it only bypasses Kuthiran Hill in Kerala. 

The Verdict

The tunnel stretches for only 1.6 km and is designed to bypass the Kuthrian Hill in Kerala. It does not take travellers from one city to another. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.