Do you need to reveal which specific tunnel you’re attempting to claim?

Question

In Ticket To Ride, if you want to claim a tunnel path, you go through the process of laying out your cards for the tunnel and drawing 3 cards to determine if you’re required to pay more cards. My question is: are you required to say which particular tunnel path you’re trying to claim, or do you only say the color and length of the tunnel, revealing which particular tunnel only once you’ve successfully claimed it (after drawing the 3 cards and paying up if needed)?

The rules don’t specifically mention this, but it seems like an important distinction to make. If the player fails to claim the tunnel, then his opponents either will or won’t have an additional advantage, depending on whether or not they know which tunnel it was (assuming there are multiple tunnels of the same length/color still available).

Answer 1

Yes, you need to indicate which tunnel you are attempting to claim.

This has been a somewhat contentious question among other players; because you are correct that the rulebook doesn't not directly address this. However, Alan Moon, the designer of the game, stated¹ that you do reveal which route you are attempting.

Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/303859/how-claim-tunnel-definitive-answer/page/1

¹ We only have the word of a BGG user that Alan Moon did indeed say this. But I did not see suggestions by the BGG population at large that it was a lie.

Answer 2

This is another Yes, you need to indicate which tunnel you are attempting to claim. but with other sources.

Using the rules here look at the examples for claiming a route and claiming a route with a tunnel. Both sets of example show a red arrow pointing at the section being claimed.

I think the classic rule of interpreting instructions applies here. If something isn't explicitly stated then it probably isn't allowed. If a player was allowed to lay out cards, see if tunnel was successful and THEN decide where to build it then that would surely be stated as its a huge difference from the regular claim a route rules.

Another source (which is harder to reference on here) is the Ticket to Ride App. When I play that and attempt a build a tunnel route I have to drag cards I want to play to the selected route before I see if it successful or not. There is no interface to say "I want to see if a 3 red tunnel is successful before saying where" interface which again suggests you are required to state the route you wish to claim.