Its common name is derived from Ning, the one-character abbreviation for Nanjing and Qi, which refers to Qidong, a county-level city of Nantong.

It runs along the northern bank of the Yangtze River, serving cities such as Yangzhou, Taizhou, and Hai'an.

In 1977, the government of Jiangsu province designated the railway from Nanjing to Nantong as a project for completion within the next 10 years.

Plans were approved in 2012[8] for a cross-river connection from Nantong to the Shanghai metropolitan area (the Shanghai–Nantong railway).

It connects to the Nanjing–Qidong railway at Zhaodian station (planning name: Pingdong) on the northwestern outskirts of Nantong's urban core.