I haven't read the material in detail, but I'm aware of the various accounts of what the big 3 got up to shutting down mass transit post WWII. At the time, many people were concentrated in cities, thus the demand for cars was not high. Suburbs meant increased car sales...... rest is history.
I had a general awareness of what happened over time, but was most struck by what I saw at a county museum near me. They have a restored train station, early 1900's, that was on the line south of here. In that old station they have an original map of Ontario, circa 1904. If you glance at this old map quickly, it looks pretty similar to a provincial map of today - then you release that the 1904 map is showing RR lines, not roads. The density and distribution of transport lines is strikingly similar to today.
I watched RR lines disappear as I was growing up, so I knew that there were more in the past. Until I saw that 1904 map I had't realized there were that many way back. Takes something like that to illustrate how important rail was at the time.
The only good rail commute story I know personally was a fellow I did business with a decade or so back. He was based in Montreal, but often came to Toronto on business. The train station in Montreal was easy for him to get to, and at Union Station in Toronto he just hopped a subway to get to his company's office 15 minutes away. He really enjoyed travelling that way, he could get a lot of work done on the train, and since the train mostly paralleled the 401 highway corridor he had excellent cell coverage the whole trip. But, that is an exception, and only worked because he was travelling between 2 major cities that are an easy day trip.
The logistical advantage rail usually has is that it is relatively easy to site a train station in the centre of a city. Not a viable strategy with today's planes/cities.
Time is a factor, but sometimes once you total the door-to-door times for air vs. alternates, the results can surprise. A co-worker who used to consult in Boston found that air vs. driving times Boston/Toronto were pretty much a wash, door-to-door.
Perhaps it's mostly the nostralgia, but you're right '1949, rail always seemed (and in my personal experience is) the more civilized way to travel.
Passenger routing hasn't been a priority for long haul rail here for a very long time. Some of the shorter routes are supported, and occasionally have pretty good pricing - I know the Ottawa/Toronto run is very popular.
It was long enough ago that I've forgotten the source (something like Fortune), but the private 1930's rail car article conveyed that it was only really doable if you did your banking in the Caymans.
Rgds, D.