LONDON, March 9 (Xinhua) -- The United Kingdom (UK) announced on Thursday a two-year delay to parts of a new high-speed rail link between London and northern England, citing escalating costs caused by inflation.

"We have seen significant inflationary pressure and increased project costs, and so we will rephase construction by two years" of the High Speed Two (HS2) project between the city of Birmingham and the town of Crewe, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said in a statement to parliament.

Billed as the largest infrastructure project in Europe, the HS2 is planned to link Manchester, Birmingham and London, and modernize the country's railway network, but has been heavily criticized over its soaring cost, which could exceed 100 billion pounds (119 billion U.S. dollars) according to some estimations.