Mario Virano, Managing Director of TELT, has died
30 June 2023The announcement came on Friday 30 June: Mario Virano, Managing Director of TELT, responsible for building the rail tunnel between France and Italy, has passed away at the age of 79. This was confirmed by TELT in a press release recalling the mediating role played by Mario Virano.
He was born in Rivoli, near Turin, in 1944. After graduating from Turin Polytechnic in 1969, he worked mainly in architecture, transport and town planning.
In the 1980s, he also managed EIDOS Spa, an engineering company, for around ten years. He became CEO of the motorway company Sitaf Spa from 1998 to 2002 and was a member of the board of ANAS (Entreprise Nationale Autonome des Routes), the company that builds and manages the entire Italian national road network.
From 2006 to 2014, he was an extraordinary commissioner for the Italian government and chaired the Osservatorio Torino-Lione (Technical Observatory for the Lyon-Turin rail link). He also holds international posts, in particular on the European Communities’ Public Transport Committee and, as an expert, at the International Association of Public Transport (UITP).
He was a contract professor at the Politecnico di Torino and the IUAV (University Institute of Architecture of Venice) in the field of infrastructure, territory and landscape.
He was awarded the “Légion d’honneur” in December 2009, and named “Turinese of the Year 2012” by the Turin Chamber of Commerce, for his unwavering support for the Lyon-Turin project. He was then head of the Italian delegation to the Lyon-Turin Intergovernmental Commission, which he chaired in 2013. That same year, the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, awarded him the title of Grand Officer of the Order of Merit.
In February 2015, following his appointment by the Italian Government, he was appointed Managing Director of Société Tunnel Euralpin Lyon Turin (TELT sas) by the company’s General Meeting, for the construction and operation of the cross-border section of the new Lyon-Turin railway line.
He is the author of numerous books, including Autostrade e Territorio (Il Sole 24 Ore), Parole sulla Strada (Daniela Piazza editore), Turin Health Park, Architettura (Testo & Immagine).
The profession has lost a man of great value, whose commitment to the Lyon-Turin project contributed to the completion of an extraordinary and historic project. Numerous prestigious testimonials continue to appear, including those from Alberto Cirio, President of Piedmont, Stephan Lo Russo, Mayor of Turin, and Daniel Bursaux, Chairman of TELT.
The AFTES associates itself with all these testimonies and offers its sincere condolences to his family and to all the TELT teams.
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