User:PEA-2292/My sandbox

Robert Maitland Brereton (1834-1911)

A British engineer, Robert Maitland Brereton, was responsible for the expansion of the railways from 1857 onwards. The Allahabad-Jabalpur branch line of the East Indian Railway had been opened in June 1867. Brereton was responsible for linking this with the GIPR, resulting in a combined network of 6,400 km (4,000 mi). Hence it became possible to travel directly from Bombay to Calcutta. .

Railway Achievements

.

1857 Went to India to work under Robert W. Graham as an assistant engineer. While there, he started work on the construction of the Bombay to Calcutta Railway, which was to form the backbone of the Indian Railways. In January 1858 Brereton escaped death twice when his camp at the Sake River was attacked and looted by a band of 500 Bhils, during the unrest associated with the Indian mutiny. As he gained promotions, Brereton was eventually appointed chief engineer for the Great Indian Peninsula Railway and undertook to complete the strategic connection across the continent. This was accomplished in 1870, ahead of the promised schedule. Opening the railway from Bombay to Calcutta in March 1870, the Viceroy of India said, "...it may happen that a thousand years hence, Mr. Brereton's ghost may still hover with anxious solicitude over the unbroken piers of the Trowa Viaduct..."