The Maple Leaf as shown here represented the last through rail service between Chicago and Toronto before the coming of Amtrak. When Amtrak took over on May 1, 1971, all passenger service on the Grand Trunk system in the U.S. would be cancelled, although a truncated version of the Maple Leaf would still operate between Toronto and Sarnia, ON.

However, within a few years the State of Michigan would lend its support to rail passenger service within the state, and with state financing service would return on the Chicago-Port Huron route as the Blue Water Limited in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, Amtrak would undertake to resume through service between Chicago and Toronto in a cooperative venture with VIA Rail Canada, with a train to be named the International. This service would operate for over twenty years, but on April 23, 2004 it would be discontinued due in part to concerns about border security in the wake of 9/11. Service would be retained between Chicago and Port Huron under the old name of the Blue Water Limited.