It's pretty common. It its's just a way saying similarly. Since our two companies operated along the same lines, we considered a merger.

I've never used it

I might use it when saying that one thing is similar to another, especially if the things I'm talking about are abstractions---not if they are concrete objects. I got a good example from ChatGPT: "I enjoy playing soccer and basketball. Along the very same lines, I also love playing volleyball". That said, I don't recall ever using this phase in my life.

It means "on the very same subject" or "thinking in the very same way". I don't use it, but other people do. It is common. The following are different, but used in a similar way: "While we're on that subject, let me add ..." "What you are saying reminds me of ..." "Speaking of which,..."