The History of Optirail High Visibility Guardrail

Alpha Rail has been a leading manufacturer of pedestrian guardrail products since 1985. However, our Optirail has a history dating back to the late ‘70s!

In 1977, a designer by the name of Dr Douglas Stewart transformed pedestrian safety by inventing Visirail, a type of pedestrian guardrail that features offset vertical bars and see-through posts. Thanks to this design, pedestrians could be seen clearly through the guardrail panels and significantly reduced numbers of accidents, becoming the most widely used pedestrian guardrail product.

Dr Stewart did extensive research into road speeds and viewing angles to design three different staggered infill arrangements used on low, moderate, and high-speed roads. These became what we know today as V2, V4 and V8 staggers. Initially this design was patented by the designer, with a single manufacturing company based in Scotland having exclusive rights to make the product.

After some time, Alpha Rail acquired a license to manufacture Visirail along with some other companies, with each licensee having to create their own name for the product. Therefore in 1995, Alpha Rail’s Optirail High Visibility Guardrail was created and has proved to be extremely popular in towns and cities across the UK.

If you have an upcoming project that requires Optirail and would like to know what type you need, we have a technical blog in our resource hub that explains how the different infill staggers work. Furthermore, should your company be in the field of reactive maintenance and need to order replacement panels for accident damaged materials, we carry excellent stocks of all types available for delivery within three days of order and at great prices.

The Alpha Rail sales team is always available to offer advice and discuss your requirements. You can contact us via email at websales@alpharail.co.uk or by phone on 01623 750 214.