Claims that the Kuthiran tunnel will reduce road travel time between Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore and Kerala’s Thrissur to just 10 minutes, were busted and put to rest almost two years ago. However, the rumour mill is now back at work, with various social media handles yet again peddling the false claim. The 1.6 km Kuthiran tunnel on the Thrissur-Palakkad route is Kerala’s first ever tunnel for road transport.
On Sunday, July 25, a Twitter handle that goes by the name ‘Mouli’ shared an old video of the tunnel with a caption that read, “Coimbatore to Trichur Tunnel Opened. 2 hour journey is now 10 minutes. Thanks to Govt of INDIA infrastructure development. NO MEDIA HOUSE TALKS about such news [sic].” This tweet has garnered more than 9,100 likes and over 2,500 retweets. A similar claim was made by BJP Gujarat General Secretary Ratnakar in 2021, who had also shared the same video and caption.
Kuthiran is a hill that falls in between Palakkad and Thrissur. Anyone travelling from Coimbatore, Palakkad etc to Thrissur will have to pass through the Kuthiran hill. For years, this hill was an accident spot and created hassled for commuters. The National Highway Authority of India has contructed two tunnels through the hills, so that commute becomes easier. The first Kuthiran tunnel was opened two years ago in July 2021 and the second one which opened in August 2022, as per the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, is 1.6 kilometres long and is designed through the Peechi-Vazhani Wildlife Sanctuary. While the total distance between Thrissur and Coimbatore (via the tunnel) is 114 km, the tunnel stretches for only 1.6 km and is aimed at addressing the congestion on the Kuthiran hill during the commute. The tunnel does not take travellers from one city to another, it merely bypasses the hill.
COIMBATORE
— Mouli. (@Chandramouli1_) June 25, 2023
Coimbatore to Trichur Tunnel Opened. 2 hour journey is now 10 minutes.
Thanks to Govt of INDIA infrastructure development.
NO MEDIA HOUSE TALKS about such news. pic.twitter.com/ScOIKrNEtZ
One of the advantages of the Kuthiran tunnel is that it allows the commuters to cover the 1.6 kilometre stretch in less than a minute by travelling at 60 kmph. Before the tunnel, commuters had to suffer from severe traffic congestion in the route, resulting in them having to wait for hours to bypass the Kuthiran hills.