Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin will help lead a private initiative to drive a massive, regional economy spanning New York and New England by establishing high-speed rail service between Manhattan and Boston.

Bronin is joining North Atlantic Rail as a co-chair of the three-year-old program to create a seven-state “mega-region” in the Northeast, with rail networks linking major metros and mid-sized cities like Hartford and Providence at speeds up to 225 miles per hour.

Travel to New York would take 1 hour 5 minutes from New Haven and 1 hour 40 minutes from Boston, according to North Atlantic Rail, which estimates the three-phase project would cost $105 billion.

It would also connect UConn to downtown Hartford and Providence, according to Bronin, who called the project “the single most transformative thing we can do for Connecticut and our entire region.”

Bronin views high-speed rail as not only a potential panacea for the car-congestion that plagues much of the Northeast, but a climate-friendly catalyst for job and housing opportunities. He said the project could have similar impact to the development of railroads and highway networks in the 19th and 20th centuries.

“Those investments unlocked enormous economic growth and that’s what’s possible now, but we have to seize the moment and we have to demonstrate that we’re still capable of doing those big things,” Bronin said.

That moment the mayor speaks of is the election of a president with the nickname “Amtrak Joe,” and a hope to “spark the second great rail revolution.” As a senator, Biden was known for his daily train commute from Wilmington, Delaware to Washington, D.C.

Now, North Atlantic Rail hopes to find a place in the Biden administration’s proposed $2 trillion infrastructure plan.

Bronin also touted Biden’s selection of Pete Buttigeg as transportation secretary, describing the former South Bend, Indiana mayor as someone “who understands the power and potential of mid-sized cities.”

Bronin has known Buttigieg for about 15 years and campaigned for him in the presidential election. Bronin also recently hired a former Buttigieg staffer, Jennifer Hockenhull, as Hartford’s next chief financial officer and director of the Office of Management, Budget and Grants.

As co-chair of North Atlantic Rail, Bronin will serve alongside Boston attorney Doug McGarrah, who is the chair of the Board of a Better City, a regional business organization.

“(Bronin’s) support will be critical to realize the transformative potential of this project in the entire 7-state region, not only from a mobility enhancement perspective but also in terms of carbon reduction and economic justice,” McGarrah said in the city’s news release. “This is the moment to make a historic investment in our infrastructure – to benefit small towns, big cities, and everyone who lives in the region.”