NJ Transit Rail Operations provides passenger service on 12 lines at a total of 166 stations, some operated in conjunction with Amtrak and Metro-North Railroad (MNR). NJ Transit Rail Operations (NJTR) was established by NJ Transit (NJT) to run commuter rail operations in New Jersey. In January 1983 it took over operation from Conrail, which itself had been formed in 1976 through the merger of a number of financially troubled railroads and had been operating commuter railroad service under contract from the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT). Soon after its creation, NJT commissioned a survey of operating stations, 53 of which were eventually nominated and listed on the state and federal registers of historic places in 1984. Since 2009, NJT is a stakeholder in the state's "smart growth" transit-oriented development initiatives, its transit hubs forming the basis for transit villages. The regional rail network, which serves the northern and central parts of New Jersey and Rockland and Orange counties in New York, radiates from Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan, and Pennsylvania Station in Newark. Lines intersect at Secaucus Junction. Service from Atlantic City to Center City, Philadelphia is provided by one line separate from the rest of the NJT system, though SEPTA Regional Rail service connects Philadelphia and Trenton. Amtrak provides service in New Jersey along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) between Newark and Trenton and at intermediate points. Since its inception, NJT has closed several stations and opened new ones reflecting infrastructure improvements and discontinuance or additions in service. Some station locations, not listed here, became part of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and the River Line, both of which were largely built along existing railroad rights-of-way. New and re-opened stations are being built or proposed along planned expansions and extensions, notably the Lackawanna Cut-Off, which is under reconstruction. Restoration of passenger service along the West Trenton Line, Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex project right-of-ways, and the Raritan Valley/Lehigh Line, which include the reactivation/construction of new stations, have all been considered but not advanced. Services Station designations Historic register listings In 1981, NJT commissioned the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) to conduct a study of 112 train stations under its jurisdiction built before World War II that were still in operation. Many of thematic nomination stations are listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places (ID#5080) on March 17, 1984. The SHPO recommended that fifty-three stations, some of which