(a) Civil penalty. Any person (an entity of any type covered under 1 U.S.C. 1, including but not limited to the following: A railroad; a manager, supervisor, official, or other employee or agent of a railroad; any owner, manufacturer, lessor, or lessee of railroad equipment, track, or facilities; any independent contractor providing goods or services to a railroad; and any employee of such owner, manufacturer, lessor, lessee, or independent contractor) who violates any requirement of this part, except for any violation of §234.11, or causes the violation of any such requirement is subject to a civil penalty of at least $892, but not more than $29,192 per violation, except that: Penalties may be assessed against individuals only for willful violations, and where a grossly negligent violation or a pattern of repeated violations has created an imminent hazard of death or injury to persons, or has caused death or injury, a penalty not to exceed $116,766 per violation may be assessed. Each day a violation continues shall constitute a separate offense. FRA's website at www.fra.dot.gov contains a schedule of civil penalty amounts used in connection with this part. The railroad is not responsible for compliance with respect to any condition inconsistent with the technical standards set forth in this part where such variance arises as a result of actions beyond the control of the railroad and the railroad could not have prevented the variance through the exercise of due diligence. The foregoing sentence does not excuse any instance of noncompliance resulting from the actions of the railroad's employees, agents, or contractors.

(b) Criminal penalty. Whoever knowingly and willfully makes, causes to be made, or participates in the making of a false entry in reports required to be filed by this part, or files a false report or other document required to be filed by this part, except for any document filed pursuant to §234.11, is subject to a $5,000 fine and 2 years imprisonment as prescribed by 49 U.S.C. 522(a) and 21311(a).

[74 FR 36558, June 28, 2010, as amended at 77 FR 24422, Apr. 24, 2012; 81 FR 43111, July 1, 2016; 82 FR 16134, Apr. 3, 2017; 83 FR 60749, Nov. 27, 2018; 84 FR 23736, May 23, 2019; 84 FR 37074, July 31, 2019]