Canada's two largest railways need to be monitored by a federal watchdog to keep their duopoly powers in check, says a former rail executive who is leading the charge for disgruntled shippers, the Toronto Globe and Mail reports.

Bob Ballantyne, chairman of the Coalition of Rail Shippers, said that Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. can't be trusted to measure their own operating performance. Instead, the coalition is proposing that Ottawa appoint an independent agency to regularly provide arm's-length scorecards of the country's rail service.

A former vice-president at a CP consulting affiliate, Ballantyne served as president of the Railway Association of Canada from 1988 until 2000, when he retired at age 65 as head of the lobby group. In 2003, he came out of retirement to become president of the Canadian Industrial Transportation Association, one of 18 organizations that belong to the coalition now pushing for tough new regulations over Canada's rail industry. Coalition members represent a range of interests, from agriculture and mining to forest products and chemicals.

"I don't have a problem with my conscience in doing this. In some cases, there are people who joke, 'Bob, you've gone over to the dark side.' But an opportunity came up. I understand both sides, from a rail and from a shipper perspective," Ballantyne said in an interview.

Ballantyne, 75, made the comments after he and three other advocates for rail shippers held a news conference in Ottawa to voice their complaints about what they call spotty service by Montreal-based CN and Calgary-based CP. The coalition worries that Ottawa's Rail Freight Service Review Panel will issue a final report at the end of this year that will gather dust, especially because an interim report by the panel recommended that any new regulations be derailed - at least until CN and CP be given until 2013 to voluntarily step up their game and become more focused on customer grumblings.

"I had a long and happy relationship with CP, so I'm not anti-railroad, and most shippers aren't, either," Ballantyne said. "The railways want to be profitable. The shippers just want some balance in how that is achieved. We don't want heavy-handed regulation."

CN spokesman Mark Hallman countered that the coalition is off-base in lobbying for intrusive rail regulation. The review panel's research found that a robust rail regulatory framework is already in place in Canada, as well as "world-class speed of rail delivery" and "solid Canadian railway transit times and order fulfillment performance," Hallman said in a statement.

"The panel did not undertake any research on the issue of competition in the rail-based logistics chain. So CN cannot understand why the panel could reach a conclusion that CN and CP possess market power," Hallman said.

CP spokesman Mike LoVecchio said the freight carrier has already negotiated service agreements with key customers, ports and terminals.

"We offer a commercial dispute resolution process to all customers that is confidential and cost effective using Canadian Transportation Agency mediators," he said, stressing that CP backs "commercial principles coupled with a stable regulatory regime."

CP also disagrees with the panel's recommendation that extra regulation may be required in 2013.