 Aware 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.Jointly, with fellow engineers Olivier Zschokke and Adolf Naef, he submitted an application to the canton of Lucerne for permission to build a line from Vitznau to Rigi Staffelhöhe, a point somewhat below the summit of Rigi, but the nearest point to the summit within that canton.