This paper describes the effects of injection rate shaping on the combustion, fuel consumption and emission of $NO_x$ and soot of a medium duty diesel engine. The focus is on the influence of four different injection rate shapes, square type 1, square type 2, boot and ramp, with a variation of maximum injection pressure and start of injection (SOI). The experiments were carried out on a 1 liter single cylinder research diesel engine equipped with an amplifier-piston common rail injection system, allowing the adjustment of the injection pressure during the injection event and thus injection rate as desired. Two strategies to maintain the injected fuel mass constant were followed. One where rate shaping is applied at constant injection duration with different peak injection pressure and one strategy where rate shaping is applied at a constant peak injection pressure, but with variable injection duration. Injection rate shaping was found to have a large effect on the premixed and diffusion combustion, a significant influence on $NO_x$ emissions and depending on the followed strategy, moderate or no influence on soot emission. Only small effects on indicated fuel consumption were found.