Due to cuts by Congress as part of the Amtrak Reorganization Act of 1979pressed by the US Department of Transportation under the Carter administrationthe Lone Star was discontinued on October 8, 1979, leaving Oklahoma without passenger train service until 1999. Chicago–Houston service was retained by adding a Houston section to the Chicago–Laredo Inter-American, which split at Temple. At the time of its discontinuance, the Lone Star was Amtrak's seventh most popular long-distance train. The Houston section remained until 1981, when the Inter-American itself was cut back to San Antonio and renamed the Eagle.
