When the people of Art, canton of Schwyz, heard that a railway to Rigi was to be built from the Lucerne side, they sought and received a concession in 1870 from the Cantonal Council of Schwyz to build lines on the Schwyz route between Staffelhöhe (Rigi Staffel) and Rigi Kulm and between Arth, Oberarth and Kulm. They commissioned the two engineers, Olivier Zschokke and Niklaus Riggenbach, to build the line. The Arter Aktiengesellschaft (Art Ltd.) immediately started building the line from Staffelhöhe to Rigi Kulm (1752 m above sea level). The Vitznau-Rigi Railway company line connected its line with this line in the summer of 1873 and it had to pay fees for the use of the Staffelhöhe-Rigi Kulm section until the merger of the two companies in 1992.