This paper reports on a series of design activities run on the rail network with the general public in the development of empathetic and meaning-centred approaches within ethnographic and co-design processes. The Indian railway network is the 4th largest in the world, spanning 80,000 miles and supplies trade, tourism and travel to a wide variety of audiences and users. Authors approached the challenge sensitively, stewarding participants to engage and develop their own local understanding and design strategies. The research engaged with live on-the-spot public audiences, increasing the unpredictability and serendipitous nature of the inquiry. This added an extra edge to conventionally planned empathic processes, often unexplored within user centred design. Passengers engaged and responded to real-time ‘live’ design challenges whilst journeying across the Gujarat region of India. The work yielded insights for ‘open user centred design’ and repeatable lessons for ‘live-working’ emphasising the importance of ensuring direct contextual experiences within creative empathic methodologies.