About this journey

Arth-Goldau station sits at the foot of the Rigi massif, where the Arth-Rigi-Bahn departs from its own platforms, positioned above and at right angles to the main Gotthard line below. The Arth-Rigi-Bahn was completed on 4 June 1875, four years after the Vitznau-Rigi-Bahn had opened on the mountain's far side in 1871 as the first mountain railway in Europe. When electrified in 1907, the Arth-Rigi line went a step further, becoming the first electrified standard-gauge rack railway in the world. Since 1992, both lines have been operated together under Rigi Bahnen.

The Rigi massif is almost entirely encircled by three bodies of water — Lake Lucerne, Lake Zug, and Lake Lauerz — giving it the character of a mountain peninsula rising from the Swiss Mittelland. The rack railway climbs toward Rigi Kulm, the main summit, which stands at 1,797 metres above sea level in the canton of Schwyz. A hotel had already been established at the summit in 1816, meaning the mountain drew visitors for nearly six decades before any railway reached it. The November 2025 journey falls in the railway's 150th anniversary year, a milestone marked at Arth-Goldau station from 1 September 2025.