<p>Queensland premier Peter Beattie has pledged to spend $570m this year upgrading rail, port and water infrastructure to ensure central Queensland can meet increasing coal demands. </p> <p>Mr Beattie, in Gladstone yesterday (Monday, January 31), cited the Blackwater rail system and Gladstone port’s two coal terminals as facilities that will receive funding.</p> <p>He said the coal industry has a unique opportunity to not only get good prices for coal, but to also grow the industry into the distant future.</p> <p>However, he cautioned that in the short-term no-one is certain whether Australia can meet the entire demands of China and India, plus the traditional markets of Japan, Europe and the US. </p> <br />