Thomas the Tank Engine is set to be joined by a new and more diverse group of friends, including Ashima from India and Raul from Brazil.

The well-loved anthropomorphic train, who has been running since 1946, will be joined by 13 new international characters in a new animated film Thomas And Friends: The Great Race.

Toy-maker Mattel brought the brand in 2012 with plans to make it more diverse, and the new film is on track to do just that.

Other trains running alongside Ashima and Raul, will be Axel of Belgium, Shane of Australia, Carlos of Mexico and Yong Bao of China.

Four of the new characters - who join the more established cast of trains such as Gordon and Percy - will be female.

Ashima, voiced in the film by Bolywood star Tina Desai, is described as being as fast or faster than Thomas.

It is unclear how Thomas will react to that.

The film shows Thomas The Tank Engine as an underdog who must test his mettle against the other engines in his bid to represent Sodor, the island on which he lives, at the Great Railway Show.

Desai, who who starred in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, said: "With new characters from around the world, the film has a wonderfully diverse and multi-cultural feel that I hope every child should be able to relate to and be inspired by in some way."

The film also promises another surprise - representing the UK will be the Flying Scotsman, the express passenger train that has been running between Edinburgh and London since 1862, and which it turns out, is Gordon's brother.

Thomas The Tank Engine was originally created more then 70 years ago by the British clergyman Rev W Awdry, as a storybook for his son.

The new musical adventure will be the 11th feature-length Thomas And Friends film.

Thomas And Friends: The Great Race is due to be released in May.