I think it’s easier to design maglevs to be more aerodynamic but also the lack of needing wheels at all is a big deal. Basically high speed rails are far more efficient at lower speeds but require far more energy at high speeds specifically because of the limitations of wheels and friction based propulsion.

Maglevs are far less efficient at low speeds due to the energy requirements of the magnetic levitation, but at high speeds beat out the rails because they just glide over the tracks and are propelled by fucking magic and no moving parts.

This is how I understand it. Deepseek told me. lol