new Thomas the Tank Engine multi-cultural characters unveiled

Ashima of India, a female companion who is described as 'fearless' and 'happy to help out'.

It's been a very British TV series so far, as you would expect, so to broaden the international appeal, 14 new engines with names such as Raul, Yong Bao and Ashima are being introduced. Not only that, 4 will be female. Well, NZ Railfan magazine has always insisted that all steam locomotives are female, so that goes some way to meet their thinking :-)

The introduction of the new engines will be in a film to be released later this year, called The Great Race.

Daily Mail (UK) article