Outback train journey becomes surprise "slow television" hit in Australia

CANBERRA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Australia has been swept up in the "slow television" phenomenon after a national broadcaster aired a 17 hour cut of a train crossing the continent.

The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) broadcast the 17 hour "The Ghan: Australia's Greatest Train Journey" on Sunday one week after a three-hour cut of the program became the multicultural broadcaster's most-viewed program in the last 12 months.

Viewers on Sunday watched as the iconic train travelled almost 3,000 km from Adelaide in South Australia to Darwin in the Northern Territory.

The synopsis of the train journey describes the show as "an immersive journey on Australia's most iconic railway that reveals, in real time, the stunning topographical vistas and dramatic palette changes from Adelaide to Darwin".

"The train line and subsequent development of central Australia and the growth of Darwin, Alice Springs and Port Augusta can be attributed to local Indigenous communities' knowledge of surviving the harsh desert, as well as early immigrants, including Europeans, Chinese and Afghan cameleers."

At 17 hours in length even the extended cut was heavily edited with the journey typically taking 54 hours.

SBS decided to put the long version of the show to air after the three-hour cut aired the previous week drew 536,000 viewers.

It marked Australia's first foray into the "slow TV" phenomenon which has taken off in Norway and the Britain where a 134-hour livestream of a ship voyage and 10 hours of logs crackling on a fire were broadcast.

Social media users described Sunday's marathon broadcast as "strangely mesmerizing" with some going as far as to say the conclusion left an "empty void".

The Ghan began operation in 1929, 51 years after construction began in 1878. The journey concluded in Alice Springs for 75 years until the line was extended to Darwin in 2004. Enditem