To give you a better idea of the concept I've been proposing, here are some links to some views of it that have some of the features but not all in any one proposal shown.... these are all based on a dual mode transportation system concept, so miss most of the overall advantages in savings (energy, transportation cost outlays over time) that I believe are required and necessary.

 

Here's a short general wiki article with links to some of the concepts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RUF_%28dual_mode_transit%29 

The closest of the concepts to mine is the RUF system (Denmark).... its dual mode nature requires the same old heavy vehicles (passenger mass to transport mass ratio) though, and it's rail form in system mode concept is very limiting in the long run. Otherwise, conceptually & omitting the dual mode aspect it gets much closer to the concepts I've proposed than any others I've seen. 
http://www.ruf.dk/

 

Another which has the low weight I require ( their concept uses lightweight vehicle during the system transport mode only which is where it counts) is the TriTrack system:  http://www.tritrack.net/index2.html

 

Neither these, nor the others I've found are comprehensive enough, and seek to convolve the existing transport paradyme with an integration of a future one.

 

I also found a UC Berkely Institute of Transportation Studies academic paper that describes the single transport vehicle v mass transit system in a relatively comprehensive form with the system equations that describe the conditions and variables to create lowest cost/passenger (societally) and trade-offs in time lost (waiting or getting to / from stations).   It's rough slogging thru the equations and their derivations (which I purused for essences  and simplifying underlying assumptions used only) but it does the wonderful job of developing, characterizing, and comparing the limiting conditions of each type of transport (automobile equivalent & mass transit) under different conditions.  The only problem with the paper is that it doesn't take overall societal costs into account but rather limits its scope to areal traffic density (in rich & poor regions) relationships.  Most of the equations (with some additional factors and adjustments for a different paradyme) will apply equally well to any transportation system optimizations and bounds.http://www.its.berkeley.edu/volvocenter/Daganzo/UCB-ITS-CN-2010-1.pdf

 

Nobody I've yet found is looking at the bigger picture though.  I'm quite dumbfounded by this.