The Aargau Southern Railway opened the first section of the line, between Rupperswil and Wohlen AG, on 23 June 1874.

The line was extended south from Wohlen to Muri AG a year later, on 1 June 1875.

This latter extension was built in cooperation with the Gotthard Railway building north from Göschenen to Immensee.

[3] SBB electrified the Rotkreuz–Immensee portion of line at 15 kV  16.7 Hz AC in 1922, completing the work on 6 July.

Reconstruction of the Thalwil–Arth-Goldau line led to the temporary diversion of long-distance traffic over the Rotkreuz–Immensee section between 2019 and 2020.

With the reopening of the Thalwil–Arth-Goldau line for the December 2020 timetable change, SBB, in cooperation with the Canton of Aargau, instituted a pair of weekend-only RegioExpress trains between Aarau and Arth-Goldau.