# How do I calculate emissions from an Indian Railways Railway Receipt for a rake or wagon load?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/railway-receipt-freight-emissions

Take the weight and the distance from the Railway Receipt, multiply them for tonne-km, then multiply by a rail factor per tonne-km. Use actual weight rather than chargeable weight where the RR shows both, and add the road legs to and from the siding as separate lines.

## Which RR fields to use

- Weight: the RR can show actual weight and chargeable weight. Chargeable weight may be raised to a minimum or the wagon's carrying capacity for billing, so it can overstate what moved. Use actual weight.
- Distance: the RR shows chargeable distance between the forwarding and destination stations. Use it when you have nothing better, and note that the route actually run can differ.
- Number of wagons and wagon type, commodity, and the station codes, so each RR can be traced later.

## The calculation

Tonne-km = actual weight in tonnes x distance in km. Emissions = tonne-km x rail factor. The default factor for rail in India used on our rail and road comparison is 0.0106 kg CO2e per tonne-km, well-to-wheel.

If your logistics team or Indian Railways gives you a traction-specific figure, electric or diesel, use it and name the source. Do not mix a tank-to-wheel figure with well-to-wheel road factors in one total.

## Do not forget the road legs

A rake rarely starts at your gate. Add the truck movement from plant to the loading siding and from the destination goods shed to the customer, each as weight x km x the truck factor for that class. On short rail hauls these legs can be a large share of the total.

## Which scope it goes in

Rail freight you pay for on inbound material is Scope 3 Category 4. Outbound freight you pay for is also Category 4; outbound freight your customer pays for is Category 9. A private siding with your own shunting loco burning diesel is Scope 1 for that fuel.

## Worked example: one cement rake

- RR actual weight: 3,800 t; chargeable distance: 650 km
- Rail tonne-km: 3,800 x 650 = 24,70,000 tkm
- Rail emissions: 24,70,000 x 0.0106 = 26,182 kg CO2e
- Road leg plant to siding, 30 km in tractor-trailers: 3,800 x 30 = 1,14,000 tkm x 0.0551 = 6,281 kg CO2e
- Total: 26,182 + 6,281 = 32,463 kg CO2e, about 32.5 t

Both factors are well-to-wheel defaults for India. If the RR shows only chargeable weight, use it and label the result as possibly overstated.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads freight records into the Scope 3 evidence trail; a line gets a figure only when weight, distance and mode are present, otherwise it shows Needs Data. Its logistics calculator works per tonne-km by mode, so a rail leg and its road legs can be compared side by side.

- [Rail vs road freight emissions in India](https://senseible.earth/answers/rail-vs-road-freight-emissions-india)
- [Emissions from a freight bill or LR](https://senseible.earth/answers/how-to-calculate-emissions-from-a-freight-bill)
- [Logistics emissions calculator](https://senseible.earth/calculators/logistics-emissions)

Sources: [GLEC Framework, logistics emissions accounting method](https://www.smartfreightcentre.org/en/our-programs/emissions-accounting/global-logistics-emissions-council/), [ISO 14083:2023, Quantification and reporting of GHG emissions arising from transport chain operations](https://www.iso.org), [GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard, Categories 4 and 9](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-value-chain-scope-3-standard)

Last reviewed 2026-10-19.