Hambleton Junction is a grade-separated railway junction

Junction (rail)

A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge.This implies a physical connection between the tracks of the two routes , 'points' and signalling.one or two tracks each meet at a junction, a fairly simple layout of tracks suffices to...

 near Selby

Selby

Selby is a town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Situated south of the city of York, along the course of the River Ouse, Selby is the largest and, with a population of 13,012, most populous settlement of the wider Selby local government district.Historically a part of the West Riding...

, North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, which connects the East Coast Main Line

East Coast Main Line

The East Coast Main Line is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh...

 with the Leeds to Selby Line

York & Selby Lines

The York & Selby Lines is the name given to a group of services in the West Yorkshire Metro area, connecting Leeds with places to its north and east: as well as the Northern Rail local services to York and Selby, the services extend to:...

.

The junction was opened in 1983 as part of the Selby Diversion, which diverted the East Coast Main Line away from the Selby coalfield. The Leeds to Selby Line passes over the East Coast Main Line on a bridge. Sharply-curved chords allow southbound trains on the East Coast Main Line to head eastwards towards Selby (and vice versa), and eastbound trains heading away from Leeds to join the southbound East Coast Main Line (and vice versa).

The junction is regularly used by Northern Rail

Northern Rail

Northern Rail is a British train operating company that has operated local passenger services in Northern England since 2004. Northern Rail's owner, Serco-Abellio, is a consortium formed of Abellio and Serco, an international operator of public transport systems...

 services between York

York railway station

York railway station is a main-line railway station in the city of York, England. It lies on the East Coast Main Line north of London's King's Cross station towards Edinburgh's Waverley Station...

 and Selby

Selby railway station

Selby railway station serves the town of Selby in North Yorkshire, England. The station is on the Hull-York Line south of York, Leeds-Hull Line east of Leeds and west of Hull....

.

At present only the East Coast Main Line running under the junction is electrified

Railway electrification in Great Britain

Railway electrification in Great Britain started towards of the 19th century. A great range of voltages have been used in the intervening period using both overhead lines and third rails, however the most common standard for mainline services is now 25 kV AC using overhead lines and the...

, however previous east coast rail operator GNER

Great North Eastern Railway

Great North Eastern Railway was a British train operating company, owned by Sea Containers Ltd. It operated high-speed express train services on the East Coast Main Line from 1996 until 9 December 2007 when the franchise was taken over by National Express East Coast.GNER's primary service routes...

 proposed electrifying the Leeds to Selby Line as far as this junction and its east-south chord. Though GNER lost its franchise in 2007, electrification of the line appears to be part of the plans for East Leeds Parkway station

East Leeds Parkway railway station

East Leeds Parkway is a proposed railway station, to be sited near Micklefield in West Yorkshire on the York and Selby Lines.It will be served by trains from the west of Leeds which would normally terminate at Leeds station; by continuing eastwards to this station, it is hoped that extra capacity...

which was allocated funding in April 2008.