From Award Winning Cars to Nation Building Trains, What all Design can shape? w/ Snehal Pawar

What does it take to design something that millions of people will use for the next 30 years? In this episode of The Groundbreakin, we sit down with Snehal, Head of Design at Alstom one of the world’s leading rail and mass transit companies. From designing ceiling fans at Bajaj to trucks at Tata Motors, cars at Hyundai, and now entire train systems, Snehal’s journey is a masterclass in designing with intent. This is a conversation about design that moves cities, cultures, and communities. IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL DISCOVER: 1. Why he left car design for mass mobility and never looked back(03:37) 2. How rail design must stay relevant for 30–40 years, not just 7 (04:26) 3. Designing for culture Tokyo vs Mumbai vs Paris (09:45) 4. Why aesthetics are a dialogue, not decoration (01:20) 5. The big integration problem facing Indian urban mobility (02:36) 6. His mango farm near Nashik and the dream of self-sustenance (09:29) 7. What India needs to fix in design education urgently (00:44) 8. The one mindset shift that changed everything: Intent (10:31) THIS EPISODE IS FOR YOU IF: 1. You are a designer curious about transportation or public infrastructure 2. You want to understand how design operates at a systems and policy level 3. You’re thinking about moving from product/auto design to mass mobility 4. You believe design should contribute to society, not just sell products