The video has also been viewed more than two million times, alongside similar claims on Facebook and social media site X.
However, the railway remains under construction.
“The work on this railway line in Uttarakhand is still incomplete and the target is to complete it by December 2025. The track itself is not yet completed,” Ajit Singh Yadav, principal manager of the Uttarakhand railway project, told on October 16 AFP. .
India’s Ministry of Railways earlier on September 19 shared photos on X showing the ongoing construction work on the railway line (archived link).
The circulating video shows a railway line in China’s Hunan province.
Chinese high-speed train
A reverse image search followed by keyword searches on Google found the same video uploaded to TikTok’s Chinese version Douyin on October 2, 2024.
A comment on the post said the video was shot near Yanbodu city in Cili County, China’s Hunan Province.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip shared in the fake posts (left) and the video uploaded on Douyin (right):
The Hunan-based user shared another video shot from a similar aerial angle on the track on October 5, 2024.
The same video was shared here and by other users on Douyin here, and on Instagram here with captions that it is located in Yanbodu city in Hunan province (archived link).
Further keyword searching led to a longer version of the clip on YouTube and on X (archived links here and here).
Satellite images of Cili Province on Google Earth correspond to images in the longer version of the video (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of frames from the video (left) and Google Earth images (right), with similar elements highlighted:
AFP has previously debunked images of Chinese railways being portrayed as India here and here.
