Promises by politicians to build public transport infrastructure can often tick a lot of voters' boxes at election time — boosting property values, reducing traffic congestion, easing the commute burden.

Key points: The WA Government pledged to build a train station in Karnup

The WA Government pledged to build a train station in Karnup This changed when federal money was given to a station in Lakelands

This changed when federal money was given to a station in Lakelands Karnup residents are now wondering what their future holds

They can also become intensely political issues which have a big impact on everyday people when they don't pan out as promised.

Lakelands and Karnup, two suburbs in Perth's south, have been mooted as sites for future train stations since the train line linking the CBD and the regional centre of Mandurah was built more than a decade ago.

Karnup, in a state Labor electorate, looked likely to be built first, courtesy of a 2017 election promise by Mark McGowan.

That is, until an announcement in November last year by Prime Minister Scott Morrison that his Government would contribute $64 million towards a new $80 million station at Lakelands, in the electorate held by Federal Liberal MP Andrew Hastie.

Both Lakelands and Karnup stations would sit along the Mandurah Line heading south of Perth. ( ABC News: Eliza Laschon )

The WA Government in response shelved its plan to build the Karnup station by 2022 and has instead contributed funding to Lakelands station, which is only a few kilometres south of the proposed Karnup site.

It said it was still committed to building Karnup station but was yet to provide a date.

While these political manoeuvres have been playing out, many voters have been standing on the sidelines, quietly watching how these political and funding decisions will dramatically affect their lives.

'Stuck in limbo'

In and around the Vista private housing estate where Kerry Rennie and Gavin McLeod live, there are big tracts of land they fear will not be developed for a long time.

There's a site for a new primary school, blocks earmarked for new homes and parks, and a big area reserved for a new train station, bus interchange and 1000-bay car park, which was supposed to attract all the new residents and building activity.

Gavin McLeod and Kerry Rennie fear a promised primary school will take years to build. ( ABC News: Rebecca Turner )

But now that the WA Government's election promise to build the Karnup station by 2022 has been shelved, the Vista residents say things have gone very quiet.

"We are stuck in this limbo of a semi-developed estate," Ms Rennie, the president of the Vista Community Committee, said.

There are plenty of for-lease signs at the local shopping centre and long waits to catch a bus to the nearest train station half an hour away.

If Vista residents want to drive to catch the train from Warnbro station, they need to get there by 7:00am before the car park fills up.

It's a logistically tricky proposition for working families who also need to negotiate school drop-offs.

"I don't think we will get a train station here before 2030," Ms Rennie said.

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Both Ms Rennie and Mr McLeod, who live in the community with their respective families, said they were the victims of political games.

Mr McLeod, the committee's vice-president, said he and his wife bought in the estate because it had a lovely community feel but would be easily accessible to the city by train.

"[The train station] was a big thing in their campaign," he said.

"I remember saying it was a good thing for our area. It was good for us as landowners."

On the flipside, Lakelands is booming

The benefits which flow from an infrastructure announcement are already being felt in Lakelands.

Real Estate Institute of WA data shows that Lakelands had the biggest increase in sales activity of any Perth suburb last year.

Mandurah real estate agent Jules Di Prinzio said he saw a spike in sales in Lakelands from the Prime Minister's funding announcement.

Jules Di Prinzio says Lakelands is the better site for a station. ( ABC News: Rebecca Turner )

"Lakelands is already beginning to prosper as a result," he said.

Mr Di Prinzio said he thought the decision to build the station at a more established suburb like Lakelands first was the right one as it would also cater for residents in nearby Meadow Springs and Madora Bay.

"That station falls within more density," he said. "Karnup could still do with a bit more growth."

Pork-barrel targets

Residents of Golden Bay, a small coastal community near Karnup which is named after the wattle trees which grow on its sand dunes, are also banking on a train station.

They include long-time real estate agent Annette Rolt, who said locations near Lakelands and Karnup had long been proposed as potential future train station sites.

But she said people living near both the proposed sites had been used for pork-barrelling by both sides of politics.

Politics has played a big part in deciding which station gets built first. ( ABC News: Eliza Laschon )

As a result she was wary of politicians' promises to build infrastructure.

"I think you should take [promises] with a pinch of salt because they don't come to fruition," she said.

Ms Rolt said many plans had been put on hold since the decision to shift the station from Karnup to Lakelands.

"People have moved here with the hope that the train station will be running in the next few years," she said.

Accountant Lesley McKay, who also lives in Golden Bay, said she was bitterly disappointed and that political decision making was resulting in bad planning for the future of the area.

"This is all because of politics," she said. "It's really annoying. You should be able to believe things."

Ms McKay and her husband bought their house in 2003, with the plan of later retiring there and jumping on the train to see shows in the city.

But she has had to adjust her expectations.

Golden Bay resident Lesley McKay isn't expecting a station any time soon. ( ABC News: Rebecca Turner )

"In my lifetime, I don't think I will get a train," she said.

She said she was concerned that many long-term plans to develop the area for projected population growth would now have to be abandoned.

"There's a lot of bad planning because of political decision-making," she said.

"They are short-term decisions based on the availability of money."