Holt Samuel Hallett (1841 – 11 November 1911) was a British pioneer railway engineer in Burma.

[1][3] In 1879, he retired from government service with the rank of Executive Engineer and devoted himself to the promotion of a scheme to build a railway linking Burma and China.

[1][4][3] Hallett and Colquhoun’s Burma-China railway scheme received favourable support from commercial interests who saw untapped markets in Southwestern China for their goods.

The scheme was dropped, but would have much to do with the later extension of the Burmese railway line from Mandalay, northeast towards the Chinese frontier.

[1][4][5] After the rejection of his railway extension proposal, Hallett worked as a publicist, contributing to journals and reviews on economic and financial matters connected with the British Empire in the East.