Since the start of the new year, Hefei has been accelerating the construction of high-speed railways. Recently, good news has come from the Hefei-Xinyi High-Speed Railway, which has been included in Anhui Province's 13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of a Modern Comprehensive Transportation System: according to information from Suzhou City, Anhui Province, the Hefei-Xinyi High-Speed Railway will set up Sixian Station in Suzhou City. At present, China Railway Corporation has completed the design bidding for the project, and the pre-feasibility study has been submitted to China Railway Corporation for review. Construction is expected to start in 2019. This means that a high-speed railway from Hefei will extend directly into the vast hinterland of northern Jiangsu.

The Hefei-Xinyi High-Speed Railway is designed for a speed of 350 kilometers per hour, with a total length of about 330 kilometers. It starts at the new Hefei West Station of the Beijing-Hong Kong-Taiwan High-Speed Railway and ends at the Xinyi South Station of the Lianyungang-Xuzhou High-Speed Railway. It is a regional trunk railway in the national medium- and long-term railway network. The line passes through Dingyuan County, Mingguang City, Wuhe County, and Sixian County before entering Sihong County, Suqian City, and Xinyi City in Jiangsu Province, and connects with the under-construction Lianyungang-Xuzhou Passenger Dedicated Line at Xinyi South Station. The entire line has 9 stations: New Hefei West Station, Badouling Station, Dingyuan East Station, Mingguang West Station, Wuhe Station, Sixian East Station, Sihong West Station, Suqian East Station, and Xinyi South Station.

In October 2018, the National Development and Reform Commission announced the Development Plan for the Huaihe River Ecological Economic Belt. A national-level strategy jointly participated in by Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, and other provinces was officially implemented to accumulate new experience and explore new paths for the construction of ecological civilization in major river basins across the country. The planning scope of the Huaihe River Ecological Economic Belt includes 25 prefecture-level cities and 4 counties (cities) in Anhui, Jiangsu, and Henan. In order to improve the three-dimensional transportation network, the new plan proposes to advance the layout of railways along the Huaihe River, including the construction of the Hefei-Xinyi, Lianyungang-Xuzhou, Lianyungang-Yancheng, Yancheng-Nantong, and Xuzhou-Suqian-Huai'an-Yancheng railways.

After completion, the Hefei-Xinyi High-Speed Railway will connect southward with the Hefei-Anqing-Jiujiang, Nanchang-Ji'an-Ganzhou, and Ganzhou-Shenzhen high-speed railways, and northward with the Xuzhou-Lianyungang Passenger Dedicated Line, the second channel of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, and the coastal high-speed railway. It will form a fast passenger transport corridor from South China and Southwest China through Hefei to the Shandong Peninsula, and is of important strategic significance for improving the layout of the national fast railway network, strengthening the economic integration of inland and coastal areas, and supporting the construction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Shandong Peninsula Blue Economic Zone.

For Hefei, the Hefei-Xinyi High-Speed Railway will "seamlessly connect" with the Qingdao-Lianyungang Railway within Lianyungang and extend to Qingdao. It will also open up connections between Suqian and Xuzhou, Lianyungang, Huai'an, and Yancheng, driving the development of the economy and tourism along the line and accelerating the economic integration of northern Jiangsu and the Yangtze River Delta. The route Hefei-Xinyi-Lianyungang-Rizhao-Qingdao is a "straightened" line. At that time, the distance from Hefei to Qingdao will be greatly shortened, allowing arrival in 3 hours, and it will take only more than 1 hour to reach Hefei. At present, it takes at least more than 7 hours to reach Hefei by train. At the same time, Hefei will also end its history of having no train service to Rizhao.