Vitznau-Rigi Bahn

Geschichte

Rigi Railways is a group of railways on the mountain Rigi, located between two of the arms of Lake Lucerne, in Switzerland. They include two standard gauge rack railways, the Vitznau–Rigi Bahn and the Arth–Rigi Bahn, along with the Luftseilbahn Weggis–Rigi Kaltbad cable car and six smaller cable cars: Luftseilbahn Kräbel–Rigi Scheidegg, Luftseilbahn Obergschwend–Rigi Burggeist, Luftseilbahn Küssnacht–Seebodenalp, Luftseilbahn Vitznau–Hinterbergen, Luftseilbahn Vitznau–Wissifluh, and Luftseilbahn Brunnen–Urmiberg .Reaching a height of above sea level, the Rigi Railways are the highest standard gauge railway in Europe. They are also the highest railway in both cantons of Lucerne and Schwyz. The Vitznau–Rigi Bahn is also notable as the first mountain rack railway in Europe, and only the second in the world, after the Mount Washington Cog Railway in the United States.HistoryBuilding of the Vitznau–Rigi RailwayAware of the scenic location of Mount Rigi, Swiss engineer Niklaus Riggenbach masterminded the construction of a railway from Vitznau, on the shores of Lake Lucerne and the southern flank of Mount Rigi, to a point close to its summit. He already had the technology as he had patented, in France in 1863, a system of toothed racks set between the railway tracks interlocking with cogwheels fitted under the locomotives.