A vision to build a high-speed maglev line connecting Toronto with other major cities in the northeast has gone viral, offering a glimpse into a possible future where short-haul flights are obsolete relics of a bygone era.

The concept for a Great Northeast Corridor maglev route was created by Adam Paul Susaneck, a New York City-based architectural designer, as an academic exercise a few years ago. However, after sitting dormant, it recently went viral after being reshared on X (formerly Twitter) in a post that has garnered almost 17 million views since Friday.

After learning his post had gone viral, Susaneck shared a history of the project on Instagram.

Susaneck explained in a post that his "proposal for a transnational maglev in the northeast [is] designed to better connect the most populous cities in the region and to replace highly-polluting short-haul flights."

Current maglev technology allows speeds of up to 500 km (310 miles) per hour, theoretically allowing travel between Toronto and Montreal in just one hour. 

He explains that the proposal was forged "for a class during my masters of architecture a few years ago at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation."

Included in the post is a diagrammatic representation of the system, a geographic map, an image depicting potential future expansions, and even an analysis of regional flights and the impact such a line would have on the North American airline industry.

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A post shared by Segregation by Design (@segregation_by_design)

In his post, Susaneck makes clear that, while the map may be of interest to millions, it was only an exercise.

blogTO caught up with Susaneck, who finds it "interesting how much traction this has gotten as I consider it a sort of silly proposal."

While he's glad people like the concept, "it isn't necessarily a serious proposal." He stresses that "before creating a whole new system like this from scratch, we should be investing in improving our existing transit networks."

Susaneck thinks regional priorities should take precedence over such a project, citing Metrolinx's planned electrification of the GO train network as one such example where local investment must come first.

He says that he hopes his concept "can serve as an inspiration for how public transit networks can tie regions and communities together in ways we hadn't necessarily imagined."

"The purpose of an eye-catching, large-scale plan like this one is to get people thinking about what might be possible in the future," he says.

Quoting legendary architect Daniel Burnham, Susaneck suggests governments "Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will not themselves be realized. Make big plans, aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone, will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency."

As for his work going viral, Susaneck concedes that "I'm glad folks have found me, but I should've put my name directly on the image itself."

He explains that the project is a few years old and only recently found its way to TikTok and X.

"Luckily I have a bit of a following on my Segregation by Design project, which uses similar style graphics, so people were able to trace it back to me."

Susaneck's Segregation by Design project analyzes the destructive "urban renewal" projects of the mid-20th century, where neighbourhoods — particularly those home to marginalized communities — were levelled wholesale to make way for highway construction and other public works.