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'George Barclay Bruce' Chief Engineer, text and 'Reference' added; Link to 'Poiney Viaduct'
The '''Madras Railway Company'''(MR) was formed provisionally in July 1852 to acquire lands in the “East Indies” and to construct and work a railway or railways in that territory. In December of that year the railway company contracted with the [[East India Company]] to construct and maintain an “experimental line of railway” from [[Madras]] to (or towards) the west coast of India.
<ref> [https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/228649/8330.pdf H.M. Government “Statute Law Repeals: Nineteenth Report : Draft Statute Law (Repeals) Bill; April 2012"; pages 130-132, paragraphs 3.65-3.73] Retrieved on 2 January 2016</ref>
The Chief Engineer from 1853-6 was [[George Barclay Bruce]]. "He had then laid out and partly constructed about 500 miles of the Madras railway, he developed a system of carrying out works without contractors using direct labour. Also he developed the brick wells sunk by native divers system to construct the [[Poiney Viaduct]], a major hurdle on the route <ref >[http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/George_Barclay_Bruce Grace's Guide "George Barclay Bruce"]; Retrieved on 24 Jun 2016</ref>. .
The first section of line, from [[Madras]] to [[Arcot]], was not opened to traffic until 1 July 1856.
