I'm not sure on the timeline on this, but Rotherham Central was opened because 'Rotherham' (Masborough) didn't serve the town centre. Either before or after, the opening of Meadowhall really kicked the shops of Rotherham centre in the nuts to a much greater extent than Sheffield and Doncaster.
Parkgate (an out-of town retail park in Rotherham to any non-Yorkshire people reading this with puzzlement) doesn't help the centre either. Masborough isn't near Parkgate, so I don't see its reopening to be any use; then there's the tram/train proposal which seems to be off and on which will serve Central and Parkgate.
Sorry if this post is confused, but so is the transport and retail planning around here!
Yeah - for the benefit of any "out of towners", the Rotherham station on the main Sheffield - Doncaster/Leeds line (Masborough) was closed to make way for a station on a loop through the town centre...
...then the centre of Rotherham started closing down (with most businesses relocating to the "retail park" at Parkgate or the indoor "mall" at Meadowhall), so the town centre that is nearby Rotherham Central is weak. Most of the chain shops have moved out - alongside the charity shops/ amusement arcades etc are a handful of token attempts to breathe life into the town - a Jamie Oliver shop, a couple of "Mary Portas" shops...
...the council's hopes on regeneration seem to hinge on handing over a large part of the centre to Tesco to build on - even the council buildings have moved away from the centre (to a new place by the new Rotherham United "New York Stadium" football ground).
So my ideal solution would be a new four platform main line station near Parkgate (handy for Rawmarsh etc too) with an extended tram train from Meadowhall South to Rotherham Central and Parkgate where it'd connect with main line trains.
As far as TPE serving Rotherham goes, you'd struggle to get anything else through the Holmes Chord each hour (given the conflicting movements that
Yorkie mentioned). So, would a TPE service be at the expense of the Dearne Valley service to Leeds or at the expense of one of the slow Northern trains to Doncaster? Would the TPE service have to serve Swinton (etc) to make up for the lost links?