There are 2 or 3 steps up to the altar from the floor of the nave, and it would be a fairly simply matter to bolt the rail to the edge of the altar level and put moveable kneeling cushions on the top step. Years before Vatican II I was once visiting a church with a priest friend. He pointed to the altar rail at the top of several steps, and said it was bad design. People who had trouble climbing steps would find it hard to get to the altar rail. He recommended instead that the altar rail be put on the people's side of the bottom step. Let the priest climb up and down, but allow even people who have trouble with stairs to reach the altar rail.
I think that's still a good idea.
That's a good point.
Now that I think about it, that's exactly how our old (Episcopal) church was laid out. The altar rail was bolted to the far edge of the 1st step, and the priest and chalice bearer circulated walking along the 2nd step. There were two more steps up to the altar.
But those steps were shallower and further apart compared to our present parish sanctuary.
(I had forgotten how awfully modernist the Piskie sanctuary looked . . . guess I repressed it. Our Catholic church may not have an altar rail, but at least it looks like a sanctuary!)