The Government of the Student Body pledged partial funding Wednesday for a survey in part of an attempt to restore the Dinkey, a steam train that once ran from campus to downtown Ames.

Tony Borich, GSB College of Design senator, said bringing back the Dinkey, the fixed rail system that served Ames in the early 1900s, could benefit the city of Ames and the ISU community in a number of ways.

“We know that it will be well-used by the Ames population,” he said.

Borich, who has been working on this project for more than a year, said he proposed a route that would take the fixed rail system from the Main Street Cultural District to Central Campus, a loop stretching 4.8 miles. Borich said he has done research on other fixed rail transportation in towns of comparable size to Ames, and an estimated $6.5 million to $8 million would be needed to complete this project.

“These are reasonable expenditures for a city the size of Ames,” he said.

Bob Bourne, CyRide director of transportation, also spoke during the presentation.

He said a survey would need to be done to determine if this railway opportunity would be right for the city of Ames.

The survey would cost approximately $300,000 to conduct, he said.

GSB unanimously passed a resolution to partially fund the survey Wednesday.

Borich said that, if the resolution had failed, discussion about the return of the Dinkey would have ended because members of the ISU administration and the city of Ames have said that student support would need to be the driving force behind the survey.

Bourne said Borich’s proposed route would take the place of the CyRide orange route, which serves about 10,000 people per day with up to 13 buses running during peak hours.

Ryan Doll, GSB Towers Residence Association senator, asked Bourne if the proposed Dinkey would cost less than the CyRide bus routes already in place.

“I am not going to say we will save money,” Bourne said.

He said the transit system would be more friendly to the environment because it would use electricity instead of gas, but the operation of rail cars themselves would possibly be more costly than the buses.

Borich said the Federal Transit Authority would pay for 80 percent of the project and other funds would have to be secured within the city. Bourne said this project is one that, if pursued, would take a number of years.

“A freshman coming to Iowa State next fall will be getting their Ph.D. by the time they can actually ride on the rails,” Bourne said.