Draft:Giovanni Battista Sard

Giovanni Battista Sard, born in Turin, was an engineer and entrepreneur specialised in the design and constructions of complex railway routes through the Alps including bridges, culverts and tunnels in areas prone to avalanches and watery terrains.

He founded Sard, Lenassi & Co in Gorizia, at the time part of Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca in Austria-Hungary, for the construction works and re-design of some stretches of the Bohinj Railway, between 1900 and 1905, including the construction of the Solkan Bridge , inaugurated on July 19, 1906, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria travelled for the first time across the bridge , and the Ajba Viaduct

After the completion and inauguration of the Bohinj Railway he moved back to his hometown, Turin, where he founded Impresa G. B. Sard for the construction of some key stretches of the Cuneo-Ventimiglia Railway (Tenda Line) which is also known as the 'Railway of Wonders', between 1904 and 1908, including the Col de Tende railway tunnel and the Branch V from Cagnolina to Ventimiglia.

In 1911 during the Turin International World Fair he was knighted by Victor Emmanuel III to the Knightly Order of Agricultural, Industrial and Commercial Merit (Ordine al Merito del Lavoro), awarded for having been "singularly meritorious" in foreign commerce and industry.

After the completion of the Tenda line, he resumed his foreign enterprise in Gorizia, Sard, Lenassi & Co, embarking with a wider consortium in the construction of the Pan-European Railway Corridor, route V, Branch B between 1908 and 1914 – before the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and the outbreak of World War I – connecting Rijeka - Zagreb - Budapest and the Lika Railway to Split, part of the M604 railway (Croatia).