Blake Malone is often the only person waiting for a train at the Seaforth station on the Armadale line.
"It feels abandoned, empty," the 22-year-old said.
"It's isolated, not many people around."
And that's no surprise really — Seaforth is the least patronised train station on Perth's 180-kilometre network.
On an average October weekday last year, only 136 people used the station — which is less than the roughly 150 trains that stop at the station each day.
But Mr Malone — who lives only 100 metres away among the suburban houses that surround the station in Gosnells — depends on it and would be stranded without it.
"It's sort of my transport everyday," he said.
While there is no suggestion the station, which first opened in 1948, is about to be closed, it does top a list provided by Transport Minister Rita Saffioti's office of the least used stations.
Least patronised stations
| Boardings | Station | Line |
| 136 | Seaforth | Armadale |
| 139 | Success Hill | Midland |
| 259 | Challis | Armadale |
| 260 | Karrakatta | Fremantle |
| 266 | Woodbridge | Midland |
Data taken from an average October 2017 weekday. Source: Department of Transport
At the other end of the spectrum, it will come as no surprise Perth station (combining Perth City and Perth Underground) is the busiest. More than 38,000 people boarded a train there on an average October weekday.
Most patronised stations
| Boardings | Station | Line |
| 38,159 | Perth (Perth City and Perth Underground) | All lines |
| 11,860 | Elizabeth Quay | Mandurah |
| 7,969 | Murdoch | Mandurah |
| 5,125 | Warwick | Joondalup |
| 4,791 | Joondalup | Joondalup |
Data taken from an average October 2017 weekday. Source: Department of Transport
What is the future for Seaforth?
With the Government preparing for the first 72-kilometre stage of its Metronet rail expansion to add 18 new stations to the city's rail network, where does that leave stations like Seaforth and Challis? Do they have a future?
The answer from Armadale Mayor Henry Zelones is an emphatic "yes".
He acknowledges Challis and Seaforth are in low-density population areas, but said that would change with time.
The area around Challis was recently rezoned for high-density housing, and new units were being built.
"We're seeing that now slowly start to expand with infill, so we're going to quadruple the population around that space in the next five to 10 years," Mr Zelones said.
The Seaforth station is near an area of rural bushland near the Tonkin Highway.
Mr Zelones said several hundred hectares of largely vacant land in the area were earmarked for high-density development in the near future.
In his view, closing either station would be a mistake.
"I think it would be ill served in the longer term," he said.
Insurance for a growing population
That view is backed by Australian Bureau of Statistics figures that show Perth is the second-fastest growing capital city, behind Darwin, in the decade from 2006-2016.
The greater Perth region grew by about 500,000 people, or 28.2 per cent, over the period.
Ms Saffioti said over the next 30 to 35 years, the Perth metropolitan area would need roughly another 800,000 homes, and nearly half would be infill.
To that end, she said the "reactivation" of heritage train lines such as Armadale, by increasing population densities in those areas, was a key element of Metronet.
Curtin University Professor Peter Newman, who specialises in public transport, supports the move, but said it should have happened years ago.
He did a study of the Armadale train line in 1989 showing how the zoning needed to be changed to improve the opportunities for people to use that line, but nothing happened.
"Now, they're reaping the reward of a lack of action on development along those stations," Professor Newman said.
"There's no doubt people want to live near railway stations, and have work there as well. So there's no shortage of opportunity, but it's the planning system that's got in the way."
